Man Yar Pyae U Tin (Burmese: မန်းရာပြည့် ဦးတင်) was a traditional Burmese musician, best known for adapting the slide guitar to play folk and classical Burmese music.[1][2]

Man Yar Pyae
U Tin
မန်းရာပြည့် ဦးတင်
Born8 July 1931 (1931-07-08)
Kyaiklat, British Burma
Died5 February 2019 (2019-02-06) (aged 87)
Yangon, Myanmar
Genres
OccupationMusician
Instruments
Years active1947–2019
SpouseCho Cho

Early life

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U Tin was born in Kyaiklat, British Burma on 8 July 1931 to farmers Ba Aye and Than Yi.[1] He learned from Rangoon-based musicians who fled to Kyaiklat during World War II.[1]

Career

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He moved to Rangoon in 1947, beginning a career as a plumber whilst studying music.[1][3] U Tin's reputation as a slide guitarist grew, which enabled him to perform abroad in Japan, Thailand, Germany, the Philippines, and the United States.[2][1] U Tin earned the honorific Man Yar Pyae (lit.'Mandalay's centennial') in 1957, for his performance of Mahagita songs on the slide guitar at the 100th anniversary of Mandalay's establishment.[3] In 1959, he began an eponymous band, performing frequently on Burma Broadcasting Service.[3]

During his career, he won several national prizes.[1] He continued working at Yangon City Development Committee until the age of 60 as a plumber.[1] From 2003 until his death, he worked at Gitameit Music Institute.[1][2]

In 2015, his performances were recorded in Music of Burma - Burmese Guitar - U Tin.[4]

Personal life

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He was married to Cho Cho, and had three daughters (Win Win Toe, Win Win Nwe, and Myint Myint Nwe), and three sons.[1]

Death

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He died on 5 February 2019 in Yangon, Myanmar, from diabetes complications.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ives, Mike; Nang, Saw (2019-02-17). "U Tin, Burmese Slide Guitar Master, Dies at 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  2. ^ a b c "မြန်မာ့အကောင်းဆုံး ဆလိုက်ဂစ်တာ ပညာရှင် ဦးတင် နာရေး". ဧရာဝတီ (in Burmese). 2019-02-18. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  3. ^ a b c Elias, André J. P. (2020). "Man Yar Pyae U Tin and the Burmese Slide Guitar: Constructing and Deconstructing Narratives of Cultural Exchange". Asian Music. 51 (1): 27–58. doi:10.1353/amu.2020.0002. ISSN 1553-5630. S2CID 213655408.
  4. ^ "Music of Burma - Burmese Guitar". Far Side Music. Retrieved 2023-03-28.