YMB Saya Tin ( my, ဝိုင်အမ်ဘီဆရာတင်, ; 11 February 1894 – 8 August 1950) was a Burmese composer. He was one of three well known pre-war composers with the name Saya Tin. The others were and . He is best known for composing "

Kaba Ma Kyei , transcription = , english_title = National Anthem of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , image = 'Gaba Ma Kyei' sheet music.jpgborder , image_size = , alt = , caption = , prefix = National ...

", the national anthem of Myanmar.

Early life

Tin was born in

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 ...

on 11 February 1894 (7th waxing of Tabodwe 1255 ME) to Daw Thein and her husband U Yan Aung, a former official in the service of the last Burmese king Thibaw.MSK 1964: 74 He had one elder sister and one younger sister. After finishing high school at age 17, Tin worked as a school teacher in a private school for the next three years. In his leisure time Tin took up playing his

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. Th ...

, exploring its sounds, and studying traditional Burmese music.

Musical career

In 1918, Tin founded his own private school, the "Young Men's Buddhist School" in Mandalay, and came to be known as YMB ''Saya'' Tin. (Saya in Burmese means "teacher"). His school's musical troupe performed free of charge at charity events and weddings. In 1930, Tin closed down his school and moved to Yangon where his songs had been recorded, and used in films. Tin met up with an old classmate ''Thakin'' Ba Thaung, and joined his political movement,

Dobama Asiayone Dobama Asiayone ( my, တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins ( my, သခင် ''sa.hkang'', lit. Lords), was a Burmese national ...

(We Burmese Association).

"Kaba Ma Kyei"

Tin composed Do Bama Song (တို့ဗမာသီချင်း), in 1930, with Ba Thaung supplying the patriotic lyrics. Tin himself gave the first ceremonial rendition of the song on the flat ground of

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...

at 5:00 pm on 20 July 1930. After the ceremony, Tin was imprisoned by British officers, who accused him of inciting insurgents. He was later released in 1946. In 1942, Do Bama Song was adopted as the national anthem of the

State of Burma The State of Burma (; ja, ビルマ国, ''Biruma-koku'') was a Japanese puppet state created by Japan in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II. Background During the early stages of World War II, the Empire of Japan i ...

. In 1947, it was used as a template for the National Anthem of the Union of Burma, for which Tin was awarded

Rs. Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

1,000/-. The Burmese government awarded him the title ''

Wunna Kyawhtin This article considers the religious, military and civil orders, decorations and medals of Union of Myanmar. Religious honorary orders Before and after Myanmar's independence, governments presented two religious orders, Abhidhaja Maha Rath ...

'' (the beautiful-famous) on the Independence Day, 4 January 1950.

Death

Tin died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

on 8 August 1950 and was buried in Yangon. Tin had composed over 4,000 songs.

References

;Notes ;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tin, Saya 1894 births 1950 deaths 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Burmese musicians National anthem writers Tuberculosis deaths in Myanmar Burmese people of World War II People from Mandalay Recipients of the Wunna Kyawhtin