MTV EXIT Live in Myanmar Concert: Part 2

We were finally inside the Square and I didn’t know why we had to wait such a long time to get inside. It still was quite empty so we get the chance to pick our spots. Instead of standing close to the stage, we decided to stand near the media corner with the crowd control barriers on our back. We figured that it was safer there because we will not be pushed around much by the crowd and if something happens, we can call for help.

The concert started at 6 pm but not before the presenters, San Htut and Aye Myat Thu, annoyed us with small talks about human trafficking. I know the concert was aimed at raising awareness for human trafficking, but we were tired of waiting. Beside, AMT’s voice was quite annoying. I like her as a model, but I cringe whenever she spoke. Why can’t they find a better presenter?

Chan Chan first sang a Buddhist song she once sang on Fashion Music Festival TV program a couple of years ago. It was a nice performance to watch the Rakhine traditional dance with candle lights. For her second song, she chose to cover Shania Twain’s “You’re the Still the One”. When I first heard the music, I thought she was going to sing the Myanmar cover/copy version but instead she sang in English. Thank god. Chan Chan is a great singer but most of her songs are western or Chinese cover songs. I hope she will start singing original songs from now on.

Sai Sai came on next and performed two songs: “We are only Friends” and “We are Bachelors”. Again, Sai Sai avoided singing his popular hits because they contain samplings from western hip-hop songs. He really got the crowd going and made us all excited. Beside Jason Mraz, I have been wanting to see Sai Sai as well. I am not really that interested in other singers.

Chit Thu Wai sang two songs written by Linn Linn and then Linn Linn himself came on stage. Unfortunately, he only sang one song. The crew from the MTV EXIT standing behind us was talking to another person about how amazing he was. Even though it was just one song, he gave a powerful performance.

The rest of the local performers were Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein (PPKT), Phyo Gyi, and R Zarni. By the time these singers appear, I could only listen to them but couldn’t see them on the projector screens. As I wasn’t really interested, I didn’t bother to look at the screen after PPKT’s first performance. I only looked because I was curious about what kind of clothes she was going on. She was at first wearing a black wrapping covering her whole body, but she later removed it to show her white outfit, her usual trademark to match her name. FYI, Phyu means white in Myanmar.

PPKT’s latest album contains only original songs so she has no trouble picking non-cover songs for the concert. After singing two songs, she said there must be 50,000 people here right now, but her latest album only sold 5,000 copies. I understand what artists feel about people buying pirate copies instead of original songs, but I felt offended by what she said. It’s like she accused the audience of buying pirate copies or downloading from the internet. I do admit that I never really liked her from the start because of her personality. I have her albums in mp3 format but I’ve never really listened to them. Most of the times, I buy original albums if I really like the singers, but for those I don’t like, I don’t even bother to listen to them.

I also didn’t like Phyo Gyi’s performance. I didn’t know any of his songs. It’s hard to believe that I used to be his fan when he first started featuring in Sai Sai’s album.

R Zarni was the last local performer. I worried about him because he doesn’t have much original songs. He sang three songs at the concert and none of them were his own. The first one was an old song by Soe Paing. The second was originally sang by Soe Lwin Lwin and the last song was originally sang by Lay Phyu. But still, the crowd were crazy for him. I also had a great time singing to the “Classic Beauty”, which made him become extremely popular after the Soe Lwin Lwin commemoration live show was released. Before he sang this song, he said he’ll be singing a classic original song so I started wondering which classic song he was going to copy. A while ago, an online friend posted on his a wall a list of classic songs the Myanmar artists should sing at this concert not to embarrass themselves in front of the foreigners. I was wondering whether he was going to see songs like “Naga Ni” (Red Dragon), but instead he sang “Classic Beauty” lolz

Before each singer appeared, the annoying presenters kept appearing on stage and talking to the audience while we just wanted them to get off the stage. I don’t know remember exactly in order, but the Australian Ambassador and US Ambassador Derek Mitchell came on stage at separate time to talk to the audience about human trafficking. Sayar Atta Kyaw acted as an interpreter for the US Ambassador in case there are those who couldn’t understand English.

Some of the singers also kept asking “How are you all?” and we all replied “Not so good” because it was pretty crowded. Some guys even shouted “I’m hungry” or “I’m thirsty”. The Coca-Cola booth is too far away from us and it will be quite difficult to push through the crowd to get to the nearby exist. Thank god I didn’t feel the need to pee. In fact, I wasn’t even starving at all. I felt thirsty from time to time but I tried not to drink too much water.

credit photos: MTV EXIT

MTV EXIT Live in Myanmar Concert: Part 1

Since I wanted to write about my whole experience, I must warn you that this will be really quite long even though I have divided them into parts. If you only want to read about Jason Mraz, I suggest you to read part 3.

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I have been looking forward to MTV EXIT’s live concert in Myanmar ever since I read that Jason Mraz is going to perform in Myanmar. It seems like a dream for us to be given a chance see an international famous artist in Myanmar. Not only the concert is free, it is also the first time for an open-air concert have been held at People’s Square, with the Shwedagon Pagoda as the backdrop.

A day before the concert, Ma Red bought Jason Mraz t-shirts for me and my sister. We were both happy to wear them to the concert to show our support for our favorite singer. My sister left home earlier as she has to attend a meeting. She said she will be late for the concert but will try to watch it as much as she can.

Tommy told me that the actual concert will only start around 5:30 pm but Ma Red said we need to get there early to line up in front of the entrance gate in order to be near the stage. I was about to leave home when Ma Red called me. I started worrying about not arriving in time so I took a taxi. I arrived in front of Happy World at 1:45 pm. I asked my friends from Native Myanmar forum to meet in front of Happy World because I only know that place, not that I’ve ever been in there. I figured that we might be able to go in through that gate or something. But, I was the only one eager for the concert as I had to wait quite a while for my friends to appear.

The first to arrive were Ma Latt and Ma Apex who were waiting at the other gate near Happy World. We walked back and forth between the two gates before deciding to find the entrance gate. It seems that there are many ways to get into the People’s Square, but the security guards told us to walk until we see the real gate to the concert. On the way, we called PPL and Ma Red who were walking the whole block to reach Happy World when their taxi actually got stuck in traffic on Pyay Road. I feel really bad for them because of my mistake.

We finally reach the entrance gate and let out a sigh when we see the long line of people who were not standing straight in line. It makes us feel worse when Ma Latt said there weren’t any lines when she and Ma Apex passed in front of it 30 minutes ago. Anyway, we have no choice but to line up under the hot sun. It was probably around 2:30 pm when we started to line up.

I noticed that none of us have any water bottles. My friends told me that they can probably buy them inside, but I only saw some staffs from Coca-Cola under a tent. Remembering the reminder from MTV EXIT Facebook page, I set out to buy water bottles. I found a former classmate from my MA class lining up and she came with me as I walked to the gate near the amusement park (located inside the Square) to buy some water bottles.

By the time I got back to my friends, the waiting line became longer and I saw more people cutting the line at the front. My friends and I talked about people cutting in line and having no manners. Perhaps overhearing our talks, the woman behind us was talking to her family (or friends, I’m not too sure) about staying in line. I looked at her and was surprised to see her in her nightclothes. Gosh, what kind of person wears nightclothes to a concert? I kept remembering what Ko XoXo once said about how Myanmar people have no shame in walking around in broad daylight in their nightclothes.

PPL became quite exhausted because of the hot sun and kept talking about going home. We tried to persuade her to stay as it was nearly 4 o’clock. She was also hungry ‘cuz she only ate a small portion during lunch. We told her that we’ll buy something when we get inside although we weren’t sure. Normally, food and drinks are sold near a concert, but this time I saw nothing but that red tent from Coca-Cola.

Five minutes before 4 pm, I saw a few people climbing the wooden fence to get into the Square from the other gate (which was supposed to be an emergency exist, in case of emergency). We thought the security will handle those rowdy boys, but instead they actually let everyone standing at that gate to go inside. People were running to the front of the stage shouting in glee while all of us who have been waiting in line for hours while getting sunburned were extremely pissed off. Some people from the back broke the line and started running to the front of the gate. It was a complete chaos. We also had to run with them because nobody was waiting in line anymore. Many people were circled around the gate and some started cursing at the police guarding the gate. The funny thing about during this chaos is that PPL met with some friends and got a croissant from them. At least she gained something from the chaos

Ten minutes after the chaos, we were allowed to go in, but we had to push our way through the crowd. Thank god there weren’t any stampede or something like that although I got a few scratches on my feet from the wooden sticks on the floor. The security let us all in without checking whether we have tickets or not. I feel bad for those who bought them at high prices. The tickets were given out free, but it was difficult to get for those who were at work and couldn’t get out of the office. I got my ticket because Ma Red picked them for my sister and me. We were desperate to get the tickets because we thought nobody can get in without the tickets, but we were proven to be wrong.

Ye’ Lay – Third Rhyme

Sorry about the photo. I could only find this on his website. Btw, his website should have at least a proper album cover on the site.

Ye’ Lay’s third album, “Third Rhyme”, was released on September 25. I wasn’t enthused about it, but still I wanted to check it out and I like to post a review about it immediately after its release. However, as you can see, my review is five days late ‘cuz I wasn’t in the mood. I’ll talk about the album cover first.

When I checked out the album, I was disappointed with the cd cover. it’s not even fit to be called a CD cover as it was just made of cardboard. The CD was jammed in the cardboard and it took a while for my sister to take it out. Why couldn’t they just give us a real CD cover, for god’s sake? I swear, this whole idea with cardboard as CD covers was started by Sai Sai and now Ye’ Lay is also following his ideas. How are we supposed to keep their CDs and DVDs in good conditions if they keep putting them in cardboard covers. I don’t care that Ye’ Lay included a lyrics book, a poster and a sticker ‘cuz they don’t matter to me. Well, I’ve quite passed the age of getting exciting over posters and stickers. If he really wants to give these extra gifts, he could have either put them inside the CD cover or outside and cover the whole CD with a plastic cover. Did we have to pay 1900 kyats just for those ‘gifts’?

There are 14 songs in the album which is a lot of songs to listen and so many featuring artists also. I have already heard a couple of the songs from the album at Ye’ Lay’s birthday show on last January. It’s amazing that I was so into “Bar Sarr Hmar Lal Ah Ko” at that time, but now I’m no longer in the same mood. Perhaps, I haven’t given my full attention to this album but they all sounds pretty much typical for me. Some of the music are similar to his older songs.

One thing for sure, my music taste has completely changed. It kept changing over time. I would have been happy with this album a year and a half ago. Nine months ago, I was so into Korean Indies and I only wanted to listen to Indie artists. I still like them, but not I’m back to enjoying the typical mainstream Kpop.

01 Arr Lone A Tu Tu (feat. Joker)
I don’t like this song. It sounds so typical as I have always hear this kind of music as the intro songs in other hip-hop albums.

02 Ngar Bar Mah Ma Thi (feat Jenny)
I like this song, but Jenny’s voice sounds artificial, like it has been edited.

03 Koe Yat Kwat Lat
A pop ballad that suited Ye’ Lay’s smooth voice.

04 Bar Sarr Hmar Lal Ah Ko (feat. Htain Win)
This is actually intended for Thingyan, but it wasn’t included in any Thingyan albums. I keep thinking there’s another meaning in “What Will You Eat, Brother”.

05 Doe Han Yaut A Kyaung (feat. Thar Gyi)
So similar to 10 Seconds or Sai Sai’s songs from Every Golly.

06 One Two One Two (feat. Joker)
Just listen to the music intro and you’ll know it’s another Ye’ Lay song

07 Ma Hnote Sat Chin Buu (feat. Eaint Chit)
A duet with Eaint Chit. Pop lovers would love this but for me, it’s gonna take awhile for me to listen without skipping to the next track.

08 Kaung Ka Lay Ka Kaung Ma Lay Ko (feat. Izzani)
Again, pop lovers would love this. At least, I might listen to this more as I like Izzani’s voice.

09 Ma Hote Ya Par Buu (feat. Htain Win)
The only song that caught my full attention ‘cuz It’s so funny. It’s about the gossips about him appearing in photos and videos.

10 Yoe Myay Kya
Another pop song……

11 Min Nae’ Pyaw Chn Loh
Another song that caught my attention, perhaps it’s the r&b melody….

12 Nat Tha Mee (feat. Izzani)
Izzani’s voice sounds artificial. It doesn’t even sounds like him

13 Ta Yaut Ta Myo (feat. Ah Boy)
You know, if Ah Boy is going to sing in Chinese song, shouldn’t there be a translation in the lyrics book? Gosh, we are not Chinese. But still, a really nice r&b & hip-hop song. I’ve already heard this at his concert also.

14 Ma Hnot Sat Chin Buu (feat. Hlawn Paing, Eaint Chit, bobby soxer (Htet Htet))
I prefer this version especially the girl rapping. Much better than the typical pop ballad.

I am not writing this review just to diss him. I’m sure that other fans will like his songs. It’s just ironic that we (my sister and I) always buy original albums, vcds, and DVDs, but we rarely listen or watch them and yet those who actually like them don’t spend as much money was we do since they only buy pirated copies.

Btw, Moe Moe’s vcd is coming out on October 4th. I am going to buy it also since I really like his songs. I wonder how “Vampire” music video will be like. It’ll be cool if he dresses like a vampire with red and black cape and have those fangs on his teeth.

credit pic: http://www.yelayworld.com

NO! Unplugged Live Concert

In order to thank the fans who have supported NO, free invitation cards to their unplugged live concert can be exchanged with their “Bar Lo Tay Lae” and “Yoe Twar Pyi” album and vcd cover. Only 100 invitation cards will be available for exchange and they won’t be selling any tickets for the show.

That’s a good news for their fans but for me, I don’t support them anymore ever since their second album came out. But I still like Yee Mon as an individual artist. I have their 1st album and vcd in original format as I like them a lot back then. I saw their ad in the newspaper yesterday. The concert will be held on the 27th this month but the ad didn’t include the time and place of the concert. I guess they will advertise them later.

L Loon War – A Sone Mae…Hmaw Lint Chat

Forgive me for I have sin again by buying another pirate vcd and this time I really regret buying it, not because it’s terrible, but because it was so darn good. This has got to the second best vcd I have seen after Sai Sai live show in these days. Some of the vcds, such as City FM, are not even worth buying in pirate versions. One of the reason why I buy pirate is ‘cuz I only like a few songs in the whole album, such as those songs featuring Ye’ Lay, so I didn’t want to waste my money on the ones I don’t like.

But anyway, the vcd I’m talking about is L Loon War’s “A Sone Mae…Hmaw Lint Chat”. Truthfully, as I am more of a fan of hip-hop and r&b type in Myanmar songs, I only liked a couple of songs in his second album. And I have already seen enough of good albums turned bad which they were released as vcds so I didn’t think this one would be different from usual vcds. I no longer have the time to write in detail about each and every song so I will just write a brief over the ones I like.

First of is “A Phyu Yaung Thet Thet”, with Moe Aung Yin and Chit Thu Wai and of course L Loon War plays the keyboard while singing. I like the song and Chit Thu Wai is quite cute in the video but I don’t get the concept of the whole video.

“Min Bae Ko Chit Tae” starred Sai Sai and Phway Phway who is a new face for me. This is my favorite video in the whole album. The lyrics are about a guy who fell in love with his friend so he’s ready to confess to her but in the video, the couple seemed like they are already in love with each other instead of just as regular friends. The ending reminds me of a scene from My Sassy Girl when Sai Sai and the girl jumped over the fence to go into the park at night. The video also includes a short clip of them chatting with each other using Burglish.

“A Sone Mae Hmaw Lint Chat” is my favorite song in the whole album. The reason I like this song is because it is similar to Korean ballads and not many singers here sing like him, except copying the song directly of course. Ye’ Lay and Chit Thu Wai starred in the video. Even through I like the song and the couple look so sweet together, I find something missing while watching the video. Perhaps it’s the scene when Chit Thu Wai was trying to hold on to Ye’ Lay to not go away (I guess he’s going abroad ‘cuz he’s wearing a suit lol). I find that scene funny instead of feeling sad. And also the storyline is a bit weak as I couldn’t understand why they became separated.

“Mi Thar Su” is a more of a photo slideshow than a video. The lyrics are about how a kid’s feelings get hurt ‘cuz his/her parents are always fighting and unable to take care of the child’s education. The video is nice to watch at first but afterward, the slideshow kept repeating the same pictures over and over again and that started to annoyed me so I skipped to the next song.

I don’t listen to songs like “A San Taw Dialogue” but I like the background scenery in the video.

“A Chain Tine Min A Twat” is a really nice accapella song. I like seeing Moe Hay Ko in the video. She’s not actually necessary to be included in the video but seeing her smiles light up the video (I’m at lost at word here…..)

If you are living in Myanmar and really like him, I suggest you to support him by buying his album. Even through I bought the pirate version, my sister said she will be buying the original one, either to keep at home or to send to oversea friend, it makes me feel better that we would be supporting him. I would have buy it but I have too many dramas dvds to buy as there are many releases out in the market now.

Ye’ Lay J me Album Review

I bought Ye’ Lay and J me album on Sunday. I had been waiting for that album release ever since I saw the album cover photo at Native Myanmar forum. I wasn’t disappointed with the album. There are 9 songs in total, J me sang 5 songs and Ye’ Lay sang 4 songs. And again the total number of songs is 9. Ever since 9 Night was released, this is the third hip-hop album with only 9 songs. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Those people who aren’t satisfied with only 9 songs in J me’s solo album will be happy to hear these songs.

 

I like all songs by J me. The second song feature Bo Lay and the lyric book said he also sang in the fourth song but I don’t recognize his voice in that song. The fifth song 100 % Percent is sang in English and I’m surprised that it passed the censor board. Maybe it’s okay to curse in English but not okay to curse and use rude words in Myanmar.

 

I’m a bit disappointed to hear the first song by Ye’ Lay ‘cuz it’s just a regular mixed song between pop and r&b. My eyes were falling asleep while listening to that song and it only got wider on the second song. But I also didn’t like that song that much probably because of the chorus part and the way he sing hello. I like the rest of the songs by him. I think Chan Aye Win featured in the third song but I don’t recognize his voice. He performed that song with Chan Aye Win at his birthday show.

 

After I have listened to this collaboration album, I realized that I like J me more than Ye’ Lay.

 

I bought this album to show my support to both of my favorite singer and I suggest that you do the same also. I’m sure this album will be shared online and I’m also guilty for doing that ‘cuz I want to share them with my friends who are living aboard and unable to buy this album.