Burma’s First Girl Band Pushes Boundaries
Burma’s First Girl Band Pushes Boundaries
by Heidi Mitchell Apr 5, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
How do you know a country is ripe for democracy? When it's got an all-girl band singing about freedom.
If there is one clear sign that Burma is in the midst of a political and cultural shift, it's in its music scene.
Two years ago, the only pop songs being generated in the country were “copy tracks,” slavishly reproduced hits copying international stars like Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and various “K-Pop” idols from South Korea. The country was in mired in decades of military rule, its people reluctant to speak out against political leaders for fear of brutal repercussions. "Democracy" was a loaded word.
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Five were chosen by May. Rather than basing her selections on looks, she says, she picked candidates for their outspokenness and energy. Each of the girls had a college degree, ranging from computer science to Russian. Their band name: Tiger Girls.
Their first track was a cover of Jamaican rapper Sean Kingston’s “Fire Burning,” which they debuted to a crowd of 3,000 in Mandalay during the annual Thingyan Festival, Burma’s New Year Festival. The audience, May recalls, was initially shocked at the sight of five girls singing a blend of English and Burmese lyrics, and dancing in styles that flew in the face of the country's social conservativism. Then they started to get into it.
The Me N Ma Girls, formerly known as the Tiger Girls, in Yangon in December., Lillian Suwanrumpha, Demotix / Corbis
More:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/05/myanmar-s-first-girl-band-pushes-boundaries.html
Me N Ma Girls Official Music Video
http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/mingalarpar/id495251472?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
'Kickit' was written by the girls and Nikki. Playing with the all-American dream! Influenced like many countries by football madness. Such a great release! The chant in the final part of the song is a chant known by all kids in Myanmar - "if you win you get the golden egg, if you loose you eat the chicken shit!"
