Crowd goes crazy for hip hop at park concert

J Me and Ye Lay perform together at a hip concert.
WITH a glimmer of sunlight poking through the clouds, hip hop fans gathered for an outdoor performance at Mhyaw Sin Island, Kandawgyi Park on July 20, to listen to their favourite hip hop artists showcase their talents.
Unsurprisingly, baggy pants and big shirts proved the fashion of the day for the audience of more than 3000 fans who were packed into the makeshift tent organisers had constructed for the gig. More spilled out onto the elevated embankments to watch as Myanmar’s best home grown talents performed, including Sai Sai Kham Hlaing, J Me and Ye Lay.
To warm up the crowd young actress-cum-singer Pyae Phoo Khine took to the stage first, performing a few songs from her upcoming album. But the crowd really got excited when J Me stepped up to perform his song Minn Ma Kyite Tae Hip Hop (Hip Hop you dislike). At this point the crowd became an amorphous mass howling with delight, jumping up and down with arms everywhere thrusting in the air.
J Me, wearing a black hoodie and jeans really played the crowd and together with popular disc jockey Thaw Thaw, they performed Naung Phyit Naung Shin (Solve the problem later) and Lwint Myaw (Float around).
From the reaction of the audience it would seem that J Me was the highlight of the afternoon. Fans won’t have long to wait for more from this talented performer as J Me is currently preparing his next album and will also perform soon at a fundraising hip hop concert.
Before finishing his set J Me invited Ye Lay on to the stage to sing a few more tracks.
Ye Lay, wearing a white shirt, hit the stage with his usual hip hop songs, the audience screaming along to the lyrics.
Next in line to perform was heart-throb Sai Sai Kham Hlaing, who rattled through a string of well-known tunes that had his fans — mostly teenage girls — in raptures.
As he launched into love song Miserable Diary the heavens opened — perhaps a weather god, jealous of Sai Sai’s popularity with the ladies — and drenched everybody not underneath the main tent.
The hip hop star ended the day with his most famous tune, Phote Hlike Phote Hlike, which prompted many squeals of delight but sadly wasn’t the same without regular guest Thiri Swe.
The crowd was also somewhat confused by the finishing time: The show wound up at 6:15, 45 minutes earlier than advertised. Still, most people appeared satisfied with the efforts of three of the country’s biggest hip hop icons.

U OTTAMA

U Ottama

U Ottama (1880-1939) was an Arakanese monk, author and one of the leaders for Burmese Independence. He is considered one of the national heroes of modern Myanmar.Contents 1 Early life 2 Education 3 Anti-Colonial activism 4 Death 5 Legacy 6 External links
Early lifeHe was born Paw Tun Aung, son of Mra Tha Oo, in Rupa, a district of Sittwe in western Burma. Paw Tun Aung assumed the religious name Ottama when he entered the Buddhist monkhood.
EducationAshin Ottama studied in Calcutta for three years, until he passed the vernacular. He then travelled around India, and to France and Egypt.
In January, 1907 he went to Japan, where he taught Pali and Sanskrit at the Academy of Buddhist Science in Tokyo. He then travelled to Korea, Manchuria, Port Arthur, China, Annam, Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. In Saigon, he met with an exiled former Burmese prince, Myin Kun (who led a rebellion along with Prince Myin Khondaing in 1866, and assassinated the heir to the Burmese Crown, Crown Price Kanaung).

Anti-Colonial activismUpon his return to British Burma, U Ottama started his political activities, usually in the form of giving anti-colonial speeches. In 1921, he was arrested for one of his speeches, and sentenced for 18 months in prison. He was one of the first in British Burma to be imprisoned as a result of making a political speech, followed by a long line of nationalists such as Aung San and U Nu. According to academics, between 1921 and 1927, U Ottama spent more time in prison than outside.
While Ashin Ottama did not hold any post in any organization, he encouraged and participated in many peaceful demonstrations and strikes against British rule. An admirer of Gandhi, he did not advocate use of violence.
He represented the Indian National Congress at the funeral of Dr Sun Yat-Sen in June 1929. The only time he held a post was as leader of the All India Hindu Mahasabhas in 1935.


DeathU Ottama was imprisoned in the late 1930s for his nationalist political activities. In protest of recent political events, U Ottama went on a hunger strike, which the British colonial government ignored. Finally, he died in prison in 1939.

LegacyU Ottama is seen as both the first true martyr of Burmese nationalism and father of the modern Arakanese nationalist movement. U Ottama is seen as the first of Myanmar's long list of political monks, who had stood up for the Burmese people in times of strife, either under colonial, democratic, socialist or military rule. His monastery in Sittwe, the Shwe Zedi Monastery, continues to be an important focal point in the Burmese political movement - the recent August-September 2007 riots were sparked when monks at the Shwe Zedi monastery began to march to the Sittwe Prison demanding the release of an activist.

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