Mahāgīta

Mahāgīta (Burmese: မဟာဂီတ; from Pali: Mahāgīta; lit. 'high music'), also rendered into Burmese as Thachingyi (Burmese: သီချင်းကြီး; lit. 'great songs'), is the complete body or corpus of Burmese classical songs. The songs descend from the musical traditions of the Burmese royal court, and form the basis of Burmese classical music today. Mahāgīta songs continue to be played during Buddhist rituals, weddings, and public festivals, and performers frequently appear on state-run television shows.

History

The Mahāgīta evolved into a single style from Pyu, Mon, and Burman musical traditions. The Mahāgīta also incorporates musical traditions of conquered kingdoms; the Yodaya songs are modeled on the musical style of the Ayutthaya kingdom, while the Talaing songs are based on the songs of the Mon people.

Pre-colonial origins

Kyo, bwe, and thachingan songs are considered to constitute the oldest parts of the Mahāgīta repertoire, serving as the main court music before the Konbaung dynasty. The earliest genre of kyo songs date to the late Kingdom of Ava era. Kyo songs, which literally means "string," were used as repertoire to teach traditional classical singing and the saung. The oldest songs of the kyo genre are the "Three Barge Songs," which describe a king's passage up the Irrawaddy River to Tagaung in c. 1370, have variously been dated to the late Toungoo period (1531–1752). The "Three Barge Songs" include "Phaung Ngin Kyo," (ဖောင်ငင်ကြိုး) played as the barge is towed out; "Phaung La Kyo," (ဖောင်လားကြိုး) played as the royal barge is underway; and "Phaung Saik Kyo," (ဖောင်စိုက်ကြိုး), played when the barge makes port.