Burma at the Turn of the 21st Century

–11–Who’s Performing What? State Patronage and the Transformation of Burmese Music

229 State funding of Burmese arts has increased enormously over the past decade. Music, theater, sculpture, dance, and puppetry, are just some of the arts that are currently enjoying a rise in prominence due to increased access to scarce government resources. This rise in patronage follows immediately on the heels of a repositioning of the nation within the global socioeconomic arena. Burma’s reengagement with Asia, and the international arts community more broadly, began after the resignation of Gen. Ne Win following the suppression of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. Since the early 1990s the newly formed military council has struggled to rebuild Burma’s ailing economy by drawing in foreign investment. At the same time there has been emphasis on redeveloping and protecting a particular canon of “Myanmar tradition” in the face of the negative and Western cultural influences thought to accompany foreign capital. The Instruments of Tradition By the early 1990s increased pressure from Western nations to recognize the results of the 1990 elections revealed that the moral and political legitimacy of the regime was questioned both inside the country and outside it. Badgely (1994) argues that 1993 was a watershed year for the junta, a year in which it lost its hero, Aung San, the founder of the army and the architect of Burmese –11– Who’s Performing What? State Patronage and the Transformation of Burmese Music Gavin Douglas independence, to the democracy movement. The legacy of Aung San was, at this time, successfully detached from the Tatmadaw (the military) and came to be more closely associated with his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the democratic and liberal ideas of the National League for Democracy. It was in this climate, when a war of signification was being waged in the capital cities (Skidmore 2004:120–146), that the regime began its own campaign of appropriating the past through the unprecedented development, support, and reconstruction of certain aspects of traditional culture. Political speeches that formerly appealed to Aung San’s strength now substituted precolonial conquering figures such as King Bayinnaung and Maha Bandoola. Projects such as the renovation of historic buildings, new museums, the resurrection of traditional festivals, accelerated archeological excavations, continual and highly visible support of the Sangha (monastic order) and Säsana (Buddhist teachings, practice, and fruits of the teaching and practice), along with several new arts projects and institutions, all further this reconstruction of the past in line with a particular vision of the future. Patronage of the traditional arts is one of many ways that the present dictatorship valorizes precolonial Burmese culture. A strong emphasis on traditional culture and values permeates the rhetoric of the state-controlled media, yet little or no public discussion is permitted as to what constitutes this “traditional culture.” In the new cultural institutions, key elements of precolonial life are carefully selected and emphasized while others are deliberately omitted. This is a conscious attempt to redirect and redefine national identity and the historical record away from freedom fighting and anticolonial themes (that incorporate notions of independent identities) towards an identity based more closely upon submission to royalty and adherence to an unchanging tradition. Excessive funding and media attention directed to this revised view of national history, at the expense of many other local histories (ethnic, folk, popular), aim to establish a courtly legitimacy for the military government. Within the music community, three major projects began in 1993: the creation of the University of Culture, the formation of committees for the publication of standardized notations of the orally transmitted classical canon, and the advent of an annual performing arts competition. These are all projects designed to regenerate, reculturize, and re-present the music of Burma to the Burmese public and to the world. This chapter explores these new institutional frameworks and the variety of reactions and adaptations to them by Burmese musicians. In addition, the high profile of the Hso-ka-yay-ti Performing Arts Competition provides an opportunity to examine the performance and ritualization of both state-certified ethnicity and claims to political legitimacy. Just what is being performed, and by whom, at these official state events is open to multiple readings. 230 Gavin Douglas The University of Culture In the decade following the 1988 uprising, many of the country’s educational institutions were shut down due to fears of student-motivated political activity (see Fink 2001, Smith 1995). The school...