Zar Ni Myo Nyunt, , on 6 February 1978), better known as R Zar Ni ( my, R ဇာနည်, is a

Burmese Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (hor ...

singer. He is best known for

Burmese language Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the count ...

covers of Western and Asian ( Cantopop, Mandopop

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

) pop songs. He was the winner of the "Most Popular Male Recording Artist Award" given by

Yangon City FM Yangon City FM is a radio station that serves the Yangon metropolitan area, broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 89.0 MHz and on the Internet. Operated by the city government, Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), City FM is one of tw ...

, a pop-oriented radio station for years 2007 to 2009.

Early life

R Zarni was born Zarni Myo Nyunt to Myo Lwin and Kaythwe Nyunt in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

. He has a younger brother, Thiha Myo Nyunt, who is an aspiring singer with the stage name of M Thiha. Zarni grew up in

Tamwe Township Tamwe Township (also Tarmwe Township; my, တာမွေ မြို့နယ်, ) is located in east central Yangon, Myanmar. The township comprises 20 wards, and shares borders with Yankin Township in the north, Thingangyun Township and Min ...

, and learned to play the guitar at Sixth Standard. After failing the university matriculation exam, he first tried to become a

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

. By accident, he was discovered to become a singer. In 2018, he had contracted to become a judge in the second season of

The Voice Myanmar ''The Voice Myanmar'' is the Burmese format of the most popular singing reality Television series called '' The Voice''. It was broadcasting on MRTV-4 since 2018. It is the sixth national franchise in the Southeast Asian region after Vietnam, ...

.After severing as a judge in season 2, he continued in season 3.

Political activities

Following the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then veste ...

, R Zarni was active in the anti-coup movement both in person at rallies and through social media. He joined the "We Want Justice"

three-finger salute Three-finger salute may refer to: *Three-finger salute (Serbian), a salute used by Serbs * Three-finger salute (Sicilian), a salute used by Sicilian nationalists and separatists *Three-finger salute (pro-democracy), a gesture originally from the Hu ...

movement. The movement was launched on social media, and many celebrities have joined the movement. On 2 April 2021, warrants for his arrest were issued under section 505 (a) of the penal code by the

State Administration Council The State Administration Council ( my, နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ; abbreviated SAC or နစက) is the military junta currently governing Myanmar, established by Com ...

for speaking out against the military coup. Along with several other celebrities, he was charged with calling for participation in the

Civil Disobedience Movement The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

(CDM) and damaging the state's ability to govern, with supporting the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and with generally inciting the people to disturb the peace and stability of the nation.

Discography

R Zarni has released just three solo albums. Most of his recordings were released as part of collaborative albums with various artists.

Solo albums

* ''Nga-Go Chit-Te-Thu'' (2001) *
Si Ta-Hpet-Cha
' (2004) * ''A-hseit Tet Einmet'' (2010) * ''Eaint-mat Yin Saunt'' (2016)

References

{{authority control 21st-century Burmese male singers Living people 1978 births People from Yangon Burmese pop singers