A rare historical photograph showing a scene from a Burmese dance-drama
FROM DR GEORG BUSCHAN: DIE SITTEN DER VÖLKER, STUTTGART, BERLIN, LEIPZIG: UNION DEUTSCHE VERLAGSGESELLSCHAFT, SA; PHOTOGRAPH R. GRANT BROWN
Zat pwe is the classical form of dance-drama in Myanmar. It often includes sung passages as well. The Buddhist Jataka stories or their adaptations form the most popular literary material for these dramas, hence the name “zat”, which indicates a Jataka. Stories are, however, also derived from Burmese history. Traditionally, these kinds of plays, accompanied by a saing orchestra, dominated by percussion instruments, lasted the whole night.
A scene from a Ramayana play
REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH IN THE RANGOON NATIONAL MUSEUM BY JUKKA O. MIETTINEN
The golden age of Burmese theatre in the late 18th and early 19th centuries produced not only marionette theatre but other forms of drama as well. Court actors from the conquered Thai capital of Ayutthaya and their refined art inspired the Burmese to further innovations. The poet Myawadi Mingyi U Sa (1766–1853) dramatised the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Indian epic Ramayana, for the Burmese stage. This led to the Burmese “Ramayana play”, a danced pantomime broadly following the conventions of the khon mask theatre of Thailand.
In the Ramayana play the Thai tradition is adhered to in the plots, in some of the dance movements, and in the characters with their costumes and decorative papier maché masks, which, however, seem slightly more robust in character compared with the Thai masks, whereas the music and dance techniques are quintessentially Burmese. The Ramayana became established in the Burmese literary and visual heritage. The spectacular Ramayana play has, however, become rare in present-day Myanmar. In addition to the Ramayana, the Thais provided another significant series of stories, the originally Javanese Prince Panji cycle, which is known as Inao in Thailand and Burma.
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Myanmar
Zat Pwe, The Burmese Dance-Drama
A rare historical photograph showing a scene from a Burmese dance-drama
FROM DR GEORG BUSCHAN: DIE SITTEN DER VÖLKER, STUTTGART, BERLIN, LEIPZIG: UNION DEUTSCHE VERLAGSGESELLSCHAFT, SA; PHOTOGRAPH R. GRANT BROWN
Zat pwe is the classical form of dance-drama in Myanmar. It often includes sung passages as well. The Buddhist Jataka stories or their adaptations form the most popular literary material for these dramas, hence the name “zat”, which indicates a Jataka. Stories are, however, also derived from Burmese history. Traditionally, these kinds of plays, accompanied by a saing orchestra, dominated by percussion instruments, lasted the whole night.
A scene from a Ramayana play
REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH IN THE RANGOON NATIONAL MUSEUM BY JUKKA O. MIETTINEN
The golden age of Burmese theatre in the late 18th and early 19th centuries produced not only marionette theatre but other forms of drama as well. Court actors from the conquered Thai capital of Ayutthaya and their refined art inspired the Burmese to further innovations. The poet Myawadi Mingyi U Sa (1766–1853) dramatised the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Indian epic Ramayana, for the Burmese stage. This led to the Burmese “Ramayana play”, a danced pantomime broadly following the conventions of the khon mask theatre of Thailand.
In the Ramayana play the Thai tradition is adhered to in the plots, in some of the dance movements, and in the characters with their costumes and decorative papier maché masks, which, however, seem slightly more robust in character compared with the Thai masks, whereas the music and dance techniques are quintessentially Burmese. The Ramayana became established in the Burmese literary and visual heritage. The spectacular Ramayana play has, however, become rare in present-day Myanmar. In addition to the Ramayana, the Thais provided another significant series of stories, the originally Javanese Prince Panji cycle, which is known as Inao in Thailand and Burma.