ၼၢင်းၼၢင်း | Nang Nang - Compilation (1970s-1980s)

Download: ၼၢင်းၼၢင်း | Nang Nang - Compilation (1970s-1980s)

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The bands she's a member of: Tai Noom (tr. Young Shan), Invisible, High Hopes, and Tunggaburi Band.

She started it with Tai Noom.  The first track on this compilation is the first track ever recorded on this band!!  They did it in a basement - they did it themselves.  No label or anything.

They had trouble getting a hold of the instruments that they wanted (before making the first tape, of course).  The band members went from village to village, singing and asking for gifts (in a humble way, like homeless people cardboard signs).  They got the spare change that they could get and got the instruments for the band.

They made double-entendre lyrics (what the locals would understand - not the Burmese officially led government, of course - they probably don't understand the hidden meanings of Shan language lyrics).  To protect themselves from the government - not anything like Sai Hsai Mao (who was tortured and imprisoned), and ESPECIALLY not like Khun Thar Doon and Sai Moo (who were both assassinated).

So they were pretty much fine with the government (due to my memory and the research I could get for now) -  ESPECIALLY for putting in "fake" band names on their cover art, like the first one on a label called "Prince Studio" - they made a fake band name that they protected themselves was with "IMP", instead of Tai Noom!!  -- AND, from the start, they all have "stage" personal names from the start!!  ALL of the original band members from Tai Noom changed their personal names - although the band has been kept around for decades ever since - they kept changing band members quite often.  None of the original band members are there anymore, different people all-together.  

So, let's get back to the woman above - "Nang Nang"... is NOT her real name!!  I mean, does "Miss Miss" or "Misses Misses" sound like a real name? ("Nang" is what roughly translates in English as "Miss" or "Mrs")  She had a competition with Nang Si Wan, by the way ("Nang Si Wan" was also not her birth-name either!! - she changed it like the rest of the band).  They made a little competition between each other (the two I'm mentioning in this paragraph)... and Nang Nang was the winner!!!  (for choosing their stage name, of course)

Nang Nang was a singer AND a songwriter!!  Sai Hsai Mao, a great guy - he got his lyrics from Sai Kham Leik (during the 1960s, anyway).  But she made her very own lyrics.

Over time, the songs got more tame, as you can hear (I put the tracks in chronological order).  I'm glad the government started easing up on the artists by the 1980s or so.