Khin Maung Toe ( my, ခင်မောင်တိုး ; 2 April 1950 – 15 November 2012) was a Burmese singer songwriter, and was the longtime lead singer of the Medium Wave () band. He was one of the few successful Burmese singer-songwriters who wrote his own original songs. He released 35 albums in his career. He is best known for his 1984 hit " Maha Hsan Thu" ().

Career

Khin Maung Toe was born in Mawlaik,

Sagaing Division Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...

(now Sagaing Region) in northwestern

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 ...

, third son of

Daw Daw or DAW may refer to: People and language * Daw (given name) * Daw (surname) * Daw, an honorific used in Burmese name#Honorifics, Burmese names * Dâw people, an indigenous people of Brazil * Dâw language, a language of Brazil * Davaoeño lang ...

Khin Hla and U Khin Maung. His father was a regional government official. Khin Maung Toe became first interested in making music in his second year at the

Rangoon Institute of Technology Yangon Technological University (YTU) ( my, ရန်ကုန်နည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ် ), located in BPI, Yangon, is the premier engineering university of Myanmar. Established as Department of Engineering under Ran ...

in the late 1972s, when the Burmese pop music, modeled on Western rock-and-roll and country music, was just taking shape. He said in a 2000 interview that he and his generation of musicians faced both encouragement and criticism for the new kind of music. He released his debut album in 1973 with the E Machines band, and the follow-up album a year later. In 1978, he left

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

for Yangon, then the capital and largest city. In the early 80s, he formed a band called the Mizzima Hlaing (မဇ္ဈိမလှိုင်း, lit. ''the Medium Wave''), and became the lead singer of the band. In 1984, the band released '' Maha Hsan Thu'' album. The success of the album made Khin Maung Toe and the band household names. Their style was a modernized version of traditional Burmese music updated with Western musical instruments and arrangements. Their biggest hit, "Maha Hsan Thu", could have been a classic Burmese song from the prewar era if not for the background Western instrumentals and arrangements. In the 1980s and the 1990s, Khin Maung Toe and Medium Wave with their "original" music successfully carved out a niche in the Burmese pop music scene which was mainly dominated by covers of foreign songs. They released 18 albums in those two decades. However, the band broke up in the early 2000s after its Keyboardist Myo Khin had died. His last performance was in September 2012 in a charity concert organized by the 88 Generation Students Group.

Personal life

Khin Maung Toe was married to Wai Wai Khaing. They had three children. He died on 15 November 2012 in Singapore from

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

Discography

He released 35 albums in his career. # ''Kyezu Tin De, Gaba-Gyi-Ye'' (1973) # ''Yin-Khon-Nay-Thaw Einmet-Nge'' (1974) # ''Izzali A-Twet Izzali'' (1980) # ''Waing Ye Hsiza'' (1981) # ''Saung-Gyo-Hshaik-Than Ne Hse-Hnit-Ta Tay Mya'' (1982) # '' Maha Hsan Thu'' (1984) # ''Gyogya Than'' (1985) # ''Myet-Thwè'' (1986) # ''Yaung-Zin Khunna-Thwè'' (1988) # ''Way-Ge-Bi Pan-Khayan-Pya'' (1990) # ''Lwe-Lwe-Ne Ma-Hpyit-Bu Le & Hnot-Hset Chin'' # ''Pan-Daw-U'' (1993) # ''Myit-Da-Zin Hpyit-Ti-Mhu'' (1994) # ''Live 94 (Live Show)'' # ''Selection Songs 1 & 2'' # ''Thamudaya Kyo Thon Bin'' # ''Yi-Ywè-Thu'' (1995) # ''Mhi-Twè-Ya Lwan'' (1996) # ''Hlaing-Htet-Ka Chay-Ya'' (1997) # ''Yin-Khat A-Lwan'' (1998) # ''Kwa No Thet-Hta'' # ''Seit-Kyaik Tay'' – Best of Khin Maung Toe # ''Thachin Da-Bok'' (1999) # ''Letywayzin A-Kaung-Zon Tay-Mya'' # ''A-Kaung-Zon Tay-Mya'' # ''Teik-Ta-Kho'' # ''A-Kyaik-Hson Gaung-Zi Tay-Mya'' (2000) # ''A-Kyaik-Hson Dandayi Tay-Mya'' (2001) # ''Lwan Wut-Hmon'' (2003) # ''A-Kyaik-Hson Mandalay Tay-Mya" (2005) # ''Khun-hna-hnit A-Lun'' (2007) # ''Shwin-Lan Chan-Myei Ba Zay'' (Water Festival Songs) (2008) # ''Mizzima Hlaing Gayet Mya (Live Show)'' # ''The-U Thissa" (2010) # ''Khun-Ah Phae Mi Nge'' (2012)

References

{{Authority control 1950 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Burmese male singers Burmese singer-songwriters People from Sagaing Region 21st-century Burmese male singers Burmese pop singers Deaths from liver cancer