Saturday, September 14, 2013

Yi Yi Thant & Win Win Aung | Mya Buddha, Akha To Nei Mya


Reupped, because it pains me to think of you without it, here.

[Originally posted March 2013.] Is innocence, as Graham Greene once quipped, a kind of insanity? I don't think so, but then why do I feel, whenever I listen to traditional Burmese music, like it's the most pure, but also the craziest, music I've ever heard? I mean, besides whatever Edward Said might have to say about that.

This album is so beautiful, beautiful in so many sometimes even conflicting ways, that it almost hurts me to listen to it. I feel like I'm simultaneously floating in a celestial pool of warm, dark-chocolate-and-mushroom-flavored saline AND having the insides of my bones scraped out by mallets made by stupid people preoccupied by stupid thoughts about how dumb mallets look.

Also, it makes me cry. I feel like McTeague, after hours weeping in his Polk Street Dental Office. Except there's this layer of consciousness where I can see clearly that innocence and insanity are not really bedfellows but rather hate each other just like humans. Which makes this music even more impossible, like "how can I get at this flypaper sticking in my head"?

Found a year or so ago at Thiri Video, Elmhurst, Queens, with Peter Doolan, who graciously transliterated the artists and title.

13 comments:

peter said...

i remember this one! i've been waiting to hear!
i will surely take a stab at the tracklist when time provides, but for now i can tell you our brilliant artists here are yi yi thant & win win aung.
thanks gary!

Gary said...

Thanks, Peter ... looking forward to it!

peter said...

hey gary!
can't get the file to download, seems like divshare is having some issues. but for now, a quick update, the name of the album is "mya buddha, akha to nei mya"

Gary said...

Yeah, Divshare is doing maintenance this morning ... hopefully will be back up later today. Thanks for the title, I've added it to the post, as you'll see!

Gary said...

It seems to be semi-working now. It takes forever to load the page, but it eventually loads (at least on my computer) and the download starts.

Good luck!

peter said...

finally downloaded!
here's the song names according to the back (note: only 10 tracks listed)

01. buddha
02. mahathamaja nei
03. damase' cha nei
04. myi' ta akha to nei
05. garu dama akha to nei
06. abidama akha to nei
07. thamyinnya hpa la akha to nei
08. shin ti' htaun nei
09. owada pa ti mau' akha to nei
10. pyi to pyan akha to nei

MIke Brandon said...

Hello.

I was picking up food at this 24 hour vegetarian place in my neighborhood (Chelsea) , and I noticed they had a lot of CD's for sale on the left wall.



You must know this place? it's on 9th ave between 22nd / 21st streets.

awesome blog, BTW!

Gary said...

Thanks for the kind words, Mike.

I don't know this place. I just Google mapped and then street viewed the block; the only place that looks like a 24-hour vegetable place has a big green awning that says "Ha. Ha. Fresh."

I Yelped it. Ha Ha Fresh Corp, 195 9th Ave, 212-924-7249. Since it's a 24 hour place, I called. I asked the guy who answered if they sell music, he said no and asked me who I was trying to call.

"Ha Ha Fresh Corp," I said. He said, "Yeah--" followed by something I couldn't quite understand. (He had a rather thick accent.)

Is this the place you mean? Did you notice what kind of CDs they were, from what country/area of the world?

MIke Brandon said...

hang on. will get you the name!

MIke Brandon said...

It is called:

Dil-e Punjab Deli

( I googled : "24 hour indian food chelsea" and yelp came up)


As I said... they have a whole wall filled with (mostly) indian CD's ; stuff that looks regional..and (possibly) music from further afield.


Really obscure looking stuff. Think I even saw some CD-r's. ". Next time I go there (at 2 am!) I may have to blind buy one.

MIke Brandon said...

Yeah. now I see how vague my first comment was. I did not mention that it was an Indian ...vegetarian place. a cabbie stop. It harkens back to the NYC of my childhood, where this truly was "the city that never slept".


24 hour(quality) places are few and far.


and after the awesome, 24 hour, art deco "Empire Diner" failed at renegotiating it's lease.. this hood changed dramatically.

I had heard about this Indian place before...Passed by it on a regular basis...but never ventured inside.

Once I discovered that it was a 24 hour op... I had to try the food. It's 100% vegetarian, and cheap..and also very good.

Once again: Dil-e Punjab Deli. that's your place.

Gary said...

Aha. Thanks for the clarification. Looks like it gets pretty solid ratings on Yelp!

larry said...

Some say that I am a Quiet American who would enjoy Havana.

I prefer Howling at the city lights to having my teeth drilled on Polk.

As always thanks for the interesting assortment of ear candy.
Larry