, transcription = , english_title = National Anthem of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , image = 'Gaba Ma Kyei' sheet music.jpgborder , image_size = , alt = , caption = , prefix = National , country = Myanmar , alt_title = , en_alt_title = , alt_title_2 = , en_alt_title_2 = , author = *

YMB Saya Tin YMB Saya Tin ( my, ဝိုင်အမ်ဘီဆရာတင်, ; 11 February 1894 – 8 August 1950) was a Burmese composer. He was one of three well known pre-war composers with the name Saya Tin. The others were and . He is best known f ...

and

Thakins Dobama Asiayone ( my, တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins ( my, သခင် ''sa.hkang'', lit. Lords), was a Burmese national ...

(1930) * U Sein Mya Maung (1947) , lyrics_date = , composer =

, music_date = 1930 , published = * 1930 (as Dobama Song) * 1947 (as National Anthem) , adopted = * 1 August 1943 (by the

State of Burma The State of Burma (; ja, ビルマ国, ''Biruma-koku'') was a List of World War II puppet states#Japan, Japanese puppet state created by Japan in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II. Background During the early stage ...

) * 22 September 1947 (by the Constituent Assembly of the Union of Burma) , readopted = , until = , successor = , predecessor = , sound = U.S. Navy Band - Kaba Ma Kyei.oga , sound_title = U.S. Navy Band instrumental version (second verse) "" ( my-Mymr, ကမ္ဘာမကျေ, ; ), officially called the National Anthem ( my-Mymr, နိုင်ငံတော်သီချင်း, link=no; ''State Anthem''), is the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. It consists of two parts; the first half is a traditional Burmese style section, before transitioning into the second half, a

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

-style

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. A long-standing tradition is that those who sing the national anthem bow at the end, as a show of respect for the nation.

History

Pre-colonial Burma did not have a proper national anthem, but had compositions glorifying the king. After the annexation of Burma by the British Raj in 1886, "

God Save the King "God Save the King" is the national anthem, national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in ...

" became the national anthem of

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. In 1930, a musician from Mandalay named

Saya Tin YMB Saya Tin ( my, ဝိုင်အမ်ဘီဆရာတင်, ; 11 February 1894 – 8 August 1950) was a Burmese composer. He was one of three well known pre-war composers with the name Saya Tin. The others were and . He is best known ...

went to Rangoon and contacted the

to write a new national anthem together. They set four criteria for the anthem: it must include the background of Burmese history; the current situation of Burma with regrets, lessons, and then encouraging words; it must agitate Burmese habits to build a new age; and the anthem must agitate national pride of any Burmese who listens to it. For these criteria to be met, many Thakins including Thakin Ba Thaung, Thakin Thein Maung, Thakin Hla Baw, Thakin Tha Do, Thakin One Pe, Thakin Kyaw Tun Sein, and Thakin Po Ni helped find words, and YMB Saya Tin wrote the lyrics originally titled "Dobama Song" (). Besides being the leader of the Thakins, Thakin Ba Thaung was working as a teacher of translation at

Rangoon University '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

. He had a discussion with U Tun Sein, a tutor of mathematics; U Nyunt, a tutor of Burmese; and Ko Nu, a student. On 19 July 1930, the Dobama Song was sung for the first time in a reading room of Thaton Hostel. Written in Burmese and English, it was published in the University Magazine. On 20 July 1930, it was sung with a ceremony with a huge public crowd inside U San Tun Hall at the Rahu corner of

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...

. On 21 July 1930 in the Thuriya (The Sun) newspaper, a request to sing the Dobama Song again for those who had not listened appeared. After that the Dobama Asiayone received a lot of invitations to come and sing the song. The Thakins tried to establish a tradition of singing Dobama Song in every meeting and ceremony. The

, a Japanese puppet state, officially adopted the Dobama Song as the national anthem in 1943. In the lead up to Burma's independence,

U Nu Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...

asked U Sein Mya Maung to write a national anthem for their soon-to-be independent country. U Sein Mya Maung used the Dobama Song as a template, keeping the song's melody but slightly modifying the lyrics. The National Anthem was adopted as Burma's national anthem on 22 September 1947. On 18 June 1989, the

State Law and Order Restoration Council State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

(the ruling military junta at the time) ordered to change the word ( ALA-LC: ) to ( ALA-LC: ) in the lyrics of the national anthem, insisting that the former refers only to

Bamar people The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar ...

, while the latter represents all the national races. In fact, both words mean either Burma (Myanmar) or Burman (Bamar). According to the

2008 Constitution of Myanmar The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (2008) is the third Constitution of Myanmar after 1947 and 1974 constitutions which lost force after military coups. It is part of the seven steps road map announced by then Prime Minist ...

, the complete version of the national anthem is specified as consisting of both the traditional Burmese style and Western-style sections.Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (2008)
Chapter 13 State Flag, State Seal, National Anthem and the Capital. Article 439 (a). Page 176.

Lyrics

Burmese lyrics

English translation

Notes

References

External links

*
Burma/Myanmar: ''Kaba Ma Kyei'' - Audio of the national anthem of Burma/Myanmar, with information and lyricsarchive link

''Ga Ba Majay Ba Ma Pyay'' (MIDI file)

(from Embassy of Burma to Washington) {{Authority control Burmese music Asian anthems National symbols of Myanmar 1947 compositions National anthem compositions in A-flat major