Diramore

Diramore (ဓီရာမိုရ္)
Born	Maung Maung Zaw Htet (ေမာင္ေမာင္ေဇာ္ထက္) 4 June 1974 Mawlamyine, Mon State, Myanmar
Alma mater	National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
Occupation(s)	conductor, professor, composer, vocalist, music director
Years active	1993 - present
Spouse	May Htoo
Children	2
Awards	Myanmar Academy Award

Diramore is a musician born on 4 June 1974 in Myanmar. The name, Diramore, is given in a deepened sense by his dad and eldest brother. The word, Dira, is a Pali word, meaning very wise, and More is taken from the word Mt. Myin More, which is referred as The Great Mountain, in the religious literature of Buddhism. In order that, Diramore can be translated as The Greater and Wiser One.

Maung Maung Zaw Htet, better known as Diramore, decided at an early age that he could make a living from pursuing his first love, music.

As a student at the National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon in 1993, he chose to major in music, and started writing songs. Nobody in his family doubted his talent, and at the university he learned technique and history.

“I like our traditional music,” he told The Myanmar Times in a recent interview after a graduation event at the National Theatre in Yangon. “I like all kinds of music. I like to combine different musical styles into one creation.”

Now professor of music at the National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon, he is living proof that the love of music can lead to a successful career.

Not that it was easy.

After graduating, he produced his debut album named Guitar Shi Lar (Do You Have a Guitar?) in 2000 while working as a tutor at the NUAC(Ygn). The singer Htoo Eain Thin took notice, but was not a hit in public.

“As a student I tried to sell my songs to famous singers,” he said. “They didn’t want them. I was unknown and poor. I started to wonder if I was on the right track. But I decided to make music my career.”

His second album, Kyun Taw Nae Gi Ta (Music and I), produced in 2007, became a major success among the audience in Myanmar. People started paying attention.

His third album, Lamin Phan Pwel (Race of Catching the Moon), came in 2011, and a fourth this year, Myit O Gyi (The Old River) consolidated his success. He is also musical director of his own orchestra, Gita Gabyar.

“I like traditional songs, but when I create music I mix all my favourite genres. I transform the traditional into something new.”

He has promoted cultural exchanges with Japan and Taiwan to foster appreciation for Myanmar traditional music. “I think it’s part of my job to preserve our music. At the same time, we also need to recognise that our art and our music represent the face of the country. Parents should realise that children ought to study such things.”

Music should be taught at school even at the primary level, he believes.

“If we want to produce music of international standard, we should change our opinion about education,” he said. “Children should start studying music at an appropriate age. They should be exposed to traditional music that has been handed down through the generations.”

Along with the Japanese music production company Airplane Labels, Diramore produced a series of collections of Myanmar traditional, old and rare music, performed anew by famous modern singers and players.

The project, called The Beauty of Tradition, started two years ago with the first collection, 100 Myanmar Classical Songs. Some nat (spirit) songs and others have already been distributed in Japan.

“I believe our traditional musical instruments can create all kinds of music, including pop, rock and Western classical,” said Diramore.

He has arranged many concerts for local and international musicians, and was appointed musical director for the 27th Sea Games in 2013 and the 7th Southeast Asia Para Games in 2014, and conducted music at the 2014 ASEAN Summit in Nay Pyi Taw.

Early life and education

Born as Maung Maung Zaw Htet, on 4 June 1974, Diramore got a BA(Music) degree from the National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon as well as a M.A(Music) degree, specialized in music composition, from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

Awards

Diramore won Myanmar Academy Award for best theme music of 2009 with the film Zaw Ka Ka Nay The .

Occupation

He works as a conductor, composer, vocalist, music director, professor and head of Music Department at NUAC(Ygn).

Discography

As a vocalist, Diramore has released four solo albums.

1.Do You Have A Guitar? - Guitar Shi Larr ( 2000 )

2.Music And I - Kyanaw nae Gita ( 2007 )

3.Race Of Catching The Moon - La Min Phan Pwe ( 2012 )

Vocalist Diramore released his third solo album on August 13, departing from his usual lyrical focus on traditional and religious themes in favour of love songs.

The album, titled La Min Phan Pwe ( Race of Catching the Moon ) features 10 serene pop songs with influences from traditional and classic Myanmar music.

Diramore wrote eight of the songs himself, while composers Aye Min Sett and A Kyi Taw also penned one each. A Kyi Taw contributed the title track.

“The song ‘La Min Phan Pwe’ was written by A Kyi Taw, and since the album is all about love I thought this would be a good title for the CD as well,” Diramore said at a press conference in Yangon on August 11.

“La Min Phan Pwe” describes an attractive woman, comparing her to a beautiful and shining moon.

Diramore said he spent two years working on the album, which features violin, guitar, Myanmar harp and traditional drum instrumentation.

Lyrically, the songs explore the vicissitudes of love, from happiness and warmth, to sadness and depression.

“The songs I wrote for the album came from different inspirations. Sometimes it came from listening music and other times it came from someone I met. So I wrote the songs anytime I got an idea,” he said.

The presenter at the press conference, Aung Hlyal Wine, said it was also no coincidence that the album followed closely on Diramore’s marriage and the birth of his two children, which also played a big part in influencing the music and lyrics.

Another participant in the press conference, music journal editor Aung Soe Thu, said that Diramore, during his 13-year career as a musician, has never experienced any “conflicts or problems” in his musical creation, but rather has grown slowly and steadily into the artist he is today.

Diramore said the songs were not written to appeal to any particular generation of listener or to reflect any particular time period.

“I didn’t aim for this album to reach the height of popularity as soon as it was released. It was meant to be long-lasting music that can be listened to at any time,” he said. record.

4.The Old River - Myit O Gyi ( 2016 )

Personal life

Diramore has married to May Htoo, together they have a daughter and a son. Some of his siblings are also well-known artists in Myanmar.

Activities

Diramore is trying to promote Myanmar Classical Music.

Diramore is collaborating with a Japanese production company to promote Myanmar classical music internationally in the lead-up to the Southeast Asian Games, which will be held in Myanmar this December.

He said that since 2010 he has been planning to produce Myanmar classical music albums, and he has already prepared a list of songs to record.

“In January, a sound engineer from Airplane music label in Japan visited Myanmar, and I told him about my plan. He was interested so we recorded a demo that he took back to Japan. His producer was also interested, and they offered to help produce international-quality recordings,” he said.

Airplane’s executive producer, Ms Harue Kawabadta, then came to Myanmar to observe how local musicians and technicians work. She also came up with the idea of distributing Myanmar classical recordings to universities in Japan where music is taught.

Airplane usually produces pop, rock and jazz music. This project marks their first attempt at producing traditional music.

“I’m organising the project, but I’m not participating as a musician," Diramore said. "We are not using any of my compositions either. We have already recorded 10 albums for the project. The plan is to distribute the classical recordings in Myanmar and Japan,” he told.

He said all the recordings were made in Myanmar, but with technicians from Japan. The recording process started at the beginning of April and the technicians will return home later this month. The mixing and mastering will be done in Japan.

“We are not doing this with a contract. Airplane is just helping out. When it comes to distributing the music in Myanmar and Japan, then we will make a contract.”

He said that nowadays it’s difficult to find recordings of Myanmar classical songs in local stores.

“Some foreigners visit Myanmar and they want to know about traditional music but we don’t have any albums to play for them. The ones we have are rare and the quality is not good,” Diramore said.

Of the 10 albums that have been recorded, two focus on vocal-based music, including one consisting of classical love songs sung by Shoon Lai Aung. Another album contains songs dedicated to the Buddha.

The other albums are mostly instrumental music, although some songs — such as natchin, dedicated to spirit worship — feature some vocal accompaniment.

Diramore also organized the NUAC Orchestra.

On February 5, 2016, Diramore and Students from National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon staged Orchestra Music Showcase in combination with Myanmar traditional orchestra and western music at the National Theatre of Yangon.

Aiming to teach more about the value of music to the new generation and the tunes of Myanmar traditional and western music, the National University of Arts and Culture stage a music Show at the National Theater.

Head ,Department of Music (NUAC) ,Prof. Maung Maung Zaw Htet, Diramore said, "We will perform various kinds of well-known music to the audience who want to enjoy the combination music style. Our country is weak in music education and I think this concert will support the audience to understand more and keep in touch with music".

A Golden Evening of Music took place on Sunday the 21st February 2016 at the National Theater Yangon. It was a wonderful evening with a mix of traditional melodies and Western classic music performed by Taipei Civic Symphony Orchestra together with Myanmar musicians.There, Diramore arranged Tein Ta Mann, Winter, Snow and Love as well as his master's graduation piece End of This Life, an orchestral symphony in contemporary style.