In Monday’s (7/9) Asahi Shimbun (Japan), Takeshi Fujitani reports, “For many years, under military junta rule, the Myanmar National Symphony Orchestra was only allowed to accompany popular songs or perform folk music in television programs on the state-run broadcasting station. ‘We did not play classical music for many years,’ said Soe Soe Ei, one of the members of the orchestra. Today, under a new civilian government and the direction of Japanese conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura, the standards of composers such as Mozart and Beethoven are back on the program. Fukumura came to Yangon in late June. Since then, he has been training orchestra members for comeback concerts to be held in Yangon on July 13 and the capital of Naypyidaw on July 15. … The state-run orchestra was established in September 2001 under the initiative of then military junta strongman Khin Nyunt, first secretary of the State Peace and Development Council, the supreme decision-making body of the military junta. Under his support, the orchestra was engaged in performing in concerts. Three years later, however, Khin Nyunt fell from power and was placed under house arrest. After that, the orchestra became unable to hold high-profile public activities as its existence was regarded as taboo.”
Posted July 9, 2012
