Saung
Encyclopedia
The saung is an arched harp
used in traditional Burmese music. The saung is regarded as a national musical instrument of Burma. The saung is unique in that it is a very ancient harp tradition and the only surviving harp in Asia
today.
which has a vertical resonator
. The main parts of the harp are the body, the long curved neck, carved out of the root of a tree, and a string bar running down
the center of the top of the body. The top of the resonator body is covered with a tightly stretched deer hide, heavily lacquered with four small circular sound holes. The neck terminates in a highly decorated representation of the bo tree
leaf. The whole of the harp body is decorated with pieces of mica
("Mandalay pearls"), glass, gilt, and red and black lacquer
. The stand is similarly decorated. The ends of the strings on the harp is decorated with red cotton tassels.
The thirteen to sixteen strings of the harp angle upwards from the string bar to the string bindings on the lower part of the curved arch of the neck. Traditionally, tuning was accomplished by twisting and adjusting the string bindings. Recently constructed harps have machine heads
or tuning pegs to make tuning easier. The traditional silk strings have also been supplanted by nylon strings, but silk-stringed harps can still be seen.
A full-sized harp has a body of about 80 cm long, 16 cm wide, and 16 cm deep, and the arch rises about 60 cm from the body. Smaller harps have been made for smaller players.
The harp is played by sitting on the floor with the body in the lap, and the arch on the left. The strings are plucked with the right hand fingers from the outside. The left hand is used to dampen the strings to promote clarity and produce staccato notes. Stopped tones are produced by using left thumbnail to press against the string from the inside to increase its tension.
temples, as well as in pictorial representations.
The earliest song-poem texts in Burmese date to the early 14th century, although the music has not survived. It is conjectured that this song-poem was harp music since text refers to the siege of Myinzaing, and "Myinzaing" is one of the classical tunings and musical forms in use today.
The harp benefited from the cultural renaissance of the Konbaung era
(1752–1885). When the Burmese king Hsinbyushin
sacked Ayuthaya
, he brought back with him many Siamese courtiers. The captured Siamese actors and musicians fueled new forms and experiments in harp music. The most significant innovator was the talented courtier Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa (1766–1853), who adapted repertoires of Siamese music into Burmese, rewrote the Siamese Ramayana
, called Ramakien
, into the Burmese Enaung-zat, composed harp music for it, and developed a whole new genre of harp music called "Yodaya" (the Burmese word for Ayutthaya). U Sa was responsible for increasing the number of harp strings from seven to thirteen.
The harp is usually accompanied by a singer, or more accurately, the singer is accompanied by the harp, with the harp adapting to the singer, who sings with a bell and clapper to indicate the music tempo.
The Burmese classical music scale is tuned differently from the Western scale, and has been said to be derived from the descending cycle of fifths. This is only approximately true, and traditionally, the harp is tuned differently for the four major different modes of Burmese classical music.
Recently, due to the overriding influence of Western music, many harpists tune to the Western diatonic scale, since fewer and fewer singers feel
fully comfortable with the traditional tunings.
Burmese music has not been written down with notation, only the text of the songs are recorded, and the rendition of the music has been passed down through the generations from teacher to student. The last and most well known harpist of the court was U Maung Maung Gyi (1855–1933), who was given a post at King Mindon's court at the young age of thirteen, and given the title "Deiwa-Einda" (Heavenly Musician), which now identifies him. He trained many musicians who became accomplished musicians in their own right. The lineage of today's harpists can be traced directly back to the Deiwa-Einda and other musicians from the court of Mandalay.
With the British annexation and the fall of court of Mandalay, the Burmese court culture and traditions were still carried on for a while at the court of Saopha
s of Hsipaw
, the Shan state closest to Mandalay culturally and geographically. The well-known harpists U Hpu Gyaung and Sao Mya Aye Kyi were from Hsipaw.
ese film director Kon Ichikawa
made an Oscar nominated anti-war film called The Burmese Harp (Biruma no tategoto), set in Burma during World War II
. The main character was a Japanese soldier who becomes a Buddhist monk due to the horrors of war. He plays the saung. However, the sound of the saung is removed from the soundtrack and replaced with an overdub of a Western classical pedal harp.
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
used in traditional Burmese music. The saung is regarded as a national musical instrument of Burma. The saung is unique in that it is a very ancient harp tradition and the only surviving harp in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
today.
Description
The Burmese harp is classified as an arched horizontal harp since the resonator body is more horizontal as opposed to the Western harpHarp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
which has a vertical resonator
Resonator
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior, that is, it naturally oscillates at some frequencies, called its resonant frequencies, with greater amplitude than at others. The oscillations in a resonator can be either electromagnetic or mechanical...
. The main parts of the harp are the body, the long curved neck, carved out of the root of a tree, and a string bar running down
the center of the top of the body. The top of the resonator body is covered with a tightly stretched deer hide, heavily lacquered with four small circular sound holes. The neck terminates in a highly decorated representation of the bo tree
Sacred Fig
The Sacred Fig, Ficus religiosa, or Bo-Tree , Peepal is a species of banyan fig native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, southwest China and Indochina...
leaf. The whole of the harp body is decorated with pieces of mica
Mica
The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...
("Mandalay pearls"), glass, gilt, and red and black lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...
. The stand is similarly decorated. The ends of the strings on the harp is decorated with red cotton tassels.
The thirteen to sixteen strings of the harp angle upwards from the string bar to the string bindings on the lower part of the curved arch of the neck. Traditionally, tuning was accomplished by twisting and adjusting the string bindings. Recently constructed harps have machine heads
Tuning peg
A tuning peg is used to hold a string in the pegbox of a stringed instrument. It may be made of ebony, rosewood, boxwood or other material. Some tuning pegs are ornamented with shell, metal, or plastic inlays, beads or rings....
or tuning pegs to make tuning easier. The traditional silk strings have also been supplanted by nylon strings, but silk-stringed harps can still be seen.
A full-sized harp has a body of about 80 cm long, 16 cm wide, and 16 cm deep, and the arch rises about 60 cm from the body. Smaller harps have been made for smaller players.
The harp is played by sitting on the floor with the body in the lap, and the arch on the left. The strings are plucked with the right hand fingers from the outside. The left hand is used to dampen the strings to promote clarity and produce staccato notes. Stopped tones are produced by using left thumbnail to press against the string from the inside to increase its tension.
History
The Burmese harp is a very ancient instrument. The saung may have been introduced as early as 500 AD from Southeastern India, based on archaeological evidence, namely in the form of Burmese temple reliefs that depict a long-necked harp very similar to depictions found in Bengal. The earliest archaeological evidence of the harp is at the Bawbawgyi temple of the Sri Ksetra kingdom of the Pyu people, near present-day Pyay (Prome). At that site, there is a sculptured decoration where the arched harp with about five strings appears in a scene where musicians and a dancer are depicted. This site has been dated to the early eighth century. Contemporary Chinese chronicles from the same period cite Pyu musicians playing the arched harp. The harp has survived continuously since that time, and has been mentioned in many chronicles and texts. The current Burmese word for the harp "saung" has been recorded in BaganBagan
Bagan , formerly Pagan, is an ancient city in the Mandalay Region of Burma. Formally titled Arimaddanapura or Arimaddana and also known as Tambadipa or Tassadessa , it was the capital of several ancient kingdoms in Burma...
temples, as well as in pictorial representations.
The earliest song-poem texts in Burmese date to the early 14th century, although the music has not survived. It is conjectured that this song-poem was harp music since text refers to the siege of Myinzaing, and "Myinzaing" is one of the classical tunings and musical forms in use today.
The harp benefited from the cultural renaissance of the Konbaung era
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung Dynasty was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. The dynasty created the second largest empire in Burmese history, and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of modern state of Burma...
(1752–1885). When the Burmese king Hsinbyushin
Hsinbyushin
Hsinbyushin was king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma from 1763 to 1776. The second son of the dynasty founder Alaungpaya is best known for his wars with China and Siam, and is considered the most militaristic king of the dynasty. His successful defense against four Chinese invasions preserved...
sacked Ayuthaya
Ayutthaya kingdom
Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...
, he brought back with him many Siamese courtiers. The captured Siamese actors and musicians fueled new forms and experiments in harp music. The most significant innovator was the talented courtier Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa (1766–1853), who adapted repertoires of Siamese music into Burmese, rewrote the Siamese Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
, called Ramakien
Ramakien
The Ramakian is Thailand's national epic, derived from the Hindu epic Ramayana....
, into the Burmese Enaung-zat, composed harp music for it, and developed a whole new genre of harp music called "Yodaya" (the Burmese word for Ayutthaya). U Sa was responsible for increasing the number of harp strings from seven to thirteen.
Music and musicians
The Burmese harp and its music was traditionally used only for chamber music within the royal court until the nineteenth century. Since then, it has become popular with the general population, but is still played only in more intimate chamber settings.The harp is usually accompanied by a singer, or more accurately, the singer is accompanied by the harp, with the harp adapting to the singer, who sings with a bell and clapper to indicate the music tempo.
The Burmese classical music scale is tuned differently from the Western scale, and has been said to be derived from the descending cycle of fifths. This is only approximately true, and traditionally, the harp is tuned differently for the four major different modes of Burmese classical music.
Recently, due to the overriding influence of Western music, many harpists tune to the Western diatonic scale, since fewer and fewer singers feel
fully comfortable with the traditional tunings.
Burmese music has not been written down with notation, only the text of the songs are recorded, and the rendition of the music has been passed down through the generations from teacher to student. The last and most well known harpist of the court was U Maung Maung Gyi (1855–1933), who was given a post at King Mindon's court at the young age of thirteen, and given the title "Deiwa-Einda" (Heavenly Musician), which now identifies him. He trained many musicians who became accomplished musicians in their own right. The lineage of today's harpists can be traced directly back to the Deiwa-Einda and other musicians from the court of Mandalay.
With the British annexation and the fall of court of Mandalay, the Burmese court culture and traditions were still carried on for a while at the court of Saopha
Saopha
Saopha, Chaofa, or Sawbwa was a royal title used by the rulers of the Shan States of Myanmar . The word means "king" in the Shan and Tai languages...
s of Hsipaw
Hsipaw
Hsipaw , is a town in Shan State, Myanmar on the riverbank of Myitnge River. It is 200 km northeast of Mandalay.-Shan Saopha:Hsipaw is perhaps one of the most well known and powerful saopha states of Shan State...
, the Shan state closest to Mandalay culturally and geographically. The well-known harpists U Hpu Gyaung and Sao Mya Aye Kyi were from Hsipaw.
Films
In 1956, the JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese film director Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
made an Oscar nominated anti-war film called The Burmese Harp (Biruma no tategoto), set in Burma during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The main character was a Japanese soldier who becomes a Buddhist monk due to the horrors of war. He plays the saung. However, the sound of the saung is removed from the soundtrack and replaced with an overdub of a Western classical pedal harp.
Audio
- The Burmese Saung Sample - Sample song clip of Burmese Saung
- Classical saung-gauk audio sample
Video
- The Burmese Saung Video - Video of a participant playing in a competition (National level in Myanmar)
External links
- The Burmese Saung Gauk - includes a picture, information, and a sample song
- A Brief History of Saung - Saung History by Myanmar-Image