May Sweet
Encyclopedia
May Sweet is a Burmese singer and actress, and considered one of the most commercially successful female singers in the history of Burmese pop music. She is most famous for her Burmese
covers
of Eurodisco and American rock and pop
songs as well as classic Burmese songs from the pre- and post-war
eras.
May Sweet was the dominant female singer of Burmese pop music from the late 1970s to the 1980s, bridging popular singers from the 1970s like Nwe Yin Win
and L Khun Yi
to Maykhala
, her main rival in the mid-1980s, and to Hayma Ne Win
and Connie
in the late 1980s. She also collaborated with other male singers, most notably with Kaiser
. She achieved immense popularity starting in the late 1970s with a series of repackaged Western cover albums called Panthi Thachinmya (lit. Apple Songs), written by successful cover songwriter Thukhamein Hlaing, and a series of classic Burmese cover albums produced by Maung Kyemon. Her covers, some of which were originally written for male singers, often became more popular than the original covers. She also had many successful "original" songs as she was the top choice of songwriters of the day.
At the peak of her popularity in the early to mid 1980s, the fourth daughter of five-time Myanmar Academy Award winner Myint Myint Khin
also starred in a number of films where she appeared with leading men of the day like Pyay Nyein and Kyaw Thu
. In the 1990s, she chose to focus on her music career, and stopped making films. Though the Burmese pop music scene had changed from slow rock/pop to Europop
, techno
, heavy metal
and hip-hop, she stayed with her tried-and-true pop ballads. With her strong fan base, she was able to keep releasing new albums. Ironically, the next generation of female singers promptly covered many of her popular songs (both covers and originals) though none achieved her success. The songs remain closely identified with her. The longevity of her popularity and dominance at the top remains unparalleled in Myanmar where even most successful female singers do not last more than a few years. To date, she remains the only singer to have achieved success in both Western-style pop and classic Burmese music genres.
May Sweet left the Burmese music scene and the country in the late 1990s after she was married to a Burmese-American from New York
in 1997. She resides with her husband in Delaware
. She continues to perform for Burmese expatriate
audiences around the world.
, Myanmar
to Myint Myint Khin
, a top leading lady of Burmese cinema and a singer, and Khin Maung Nyunt, a lawyer. Swe Aye Myint, nicknamed Mi Swe, was the fourth child of five daughters. Deeply interested in music since childhood, young Mi Swe was able to sing classical Burmese songs called thachingyi by 8. Her singing ability caught the ear of Ba Than, a famous Burmese harp
master, and a family friend. Ba Than trained her to play the Burmese harp. Still at age 8, she first made her concert appearance at a Taungoo
pagoda festival (Festival of the Twenty Eight Buddhas), singing Nwe Yin Win
's famous hit Mimi Lay Ye Maymay Kyaung.
May Sweet graduated from the Dagon 1 High School in 1978, and received a bachelor's degree in botany
from Yangon University in 1982.
in Argentine Spanish, or verlan
in French
, reversing the sounds of a word or words to produce a slang or colloquial name.)
At 14, May Sweet's career began in earnest. She released her first album with Zaw One
, one of the leading men of Burmese cinema at that time. Her follow-up album was with her mother, covering many of her mother's hits from the 1950s. Trained in classical Burmese music, May Sweet with the help of noted musician Maung Kyemon turned to old Burmese songs from the pre-war era (1930s) by the great May Shin
, and updated them with modern Western music and arrangements. Her covers proved immensely popular, and she became a household name at 17.
, Yan Aung, Zin Waing, Pyay Nyein, and Ye Aung. She never achieved anywhere near her mother's popularity or success in films, and stopped making films when she was about 30.
from New York. They first met during one of her trips to the United States where she was invited to perform at a fundraiser for a Burmese monastery. She left for the US soon after. Now working at a middle school in the US, she continues to perform for Burmese expatriate audiences around the world during her time-off. She and her husband have no children.
, she had been killed in a traffic accident during a visit to London
, where she was preparing to perform in a concert to mark the Burmese New Year
on April 19. Despite the dubious English
of the report, the story was quickly picked up by bloggers and some exiled media agencies, which republished the bogus news item on their Web sites without confirmation. Within minutes, the Burmese blogosphere was full of expressions of grief over the sudden passing of the popular singer. Hours later, however, readers realized they had been fooled, and the story was pulled from Burmese media Web sites and blogs. According to Chiang Mai
-based The Irrawaddy
, it was the first case of fake news involving a Burmese celebrity that originated on the Internet.
Another report of her death surfaced on 12 March 2011, this time on the web site of the Irrawaddy itself. The exile-run media organization's web site, which reportedly was hacked, published a few hoax articles, including an alleged feud between the Irrawaddy's editor and Aung San Suu Kyi
as well as one on May Sweet's death. In an online column dated 14 March 2011, the Irrawaddy repeated its claim that its site was hacked, and that the supposed reporter of the articles, Violet Cho, was a former reporter who left the news organization in 2009. For her part, the singer instantly issued a statement online that the news was a hoax, and accused the Irrawaddy of perpetrating the hoax because she either did not believe or was not aware of the news that the Irrawaddy's site was hacked. However, in a blog post, Irrawaddy refused to apologize the affected parties including singer May Sweet by saying that "We can't say that the hackers won't come back in future. If that the case, we have to learn how to apologize rather than writing news."
Burmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Eurodisco and American rock and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
songs as well as classic Burmese songs from the pre- and post-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
eras.
May Sweet was the dominant female singer of Burmese pop music from the late 1970s to the 1980s, bridging popular singers from the 1970s like Nwe Yin Win
Nwe Yin Win
Nwe Yin Win is a Burmese singer, and is considered one of the pioneers of modern Burmese pop music. Nwe Yin Win was born in Sagaing to parents a Bamar father Min Swe and an Anglo-Burmese mother "Cathy" Tin Tin Hla. She attended the English-speaking St. Francis Girls' School and St...
and L Khun Yi
L Khun Yi
Lazun Khun Yi, better known as L Khun Yi , is a Burmese singer, and is considered one of the pioneers of modern Burmese pop music. The ethnic Kachin singer of the Lazun clan was known for her Burmese language covers of 1970s Western pop songs, particularly ABBA songs...
to Maykhala
Maykhala
Maykhala is a Burmese singer who was one of the most popular Burmese pop vocalists in the 1980s. She is known for her Burmese language covers of Western pop songs as well as original Burmese songs. She was briefly married to a popular singer, Kaiser, in the mid-1980s.-Album discography:Maykhala...
, her main rival in the mid-1980s, and to Hayma Ne Win
Hayma Ne Win
Hayma Ne Win is a Burmese singer who was popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She is considered one of the most successful singers of her generation, having releasing over 25 albums since her debut...
and Connie
Connie (Burmese singer)
Connie is a Burmese singer, known for her Burmese language covers of American heavy metal and pop songs. She was most popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s....
in the late 1980s. She also collaborated with other male singers, most notably with Kaiser
Kaiser (Burmese singer)
Kaiser is a Burmese singer-songwriter who was most popular in the late 1970s and mid 1980s. The ethnic Rakhine singer was arguably the most successful male singer in Myanmar in the early 1980s. His nonthreatening rockabilly songs were popular with the young and the old alike...
. She achieved immense popularity starting in the late 1970s with a series of repackaged Western cover albums called Panthi Thachinmya (lit. Apple Songs), written by successful cover songwriter Thukhamein Hlaing, and a series of classic Burmese cover albums produced by Maung Kyemon. Her covers, some of which were originally written for male singers, often became more popular than the original covers. She also had many successful "original" songs as she was the top choice of songwriters of the day.
At the peak of her popularity in the early to mid 1980s, the fourth daughter of five-time Myanmar Academy Award winner Myint Myint Khin
Myint Myint Khin
Myint Myint Khin is a five-time Myanmar Academy Award winning Burmese film actress. She is considered one of the most talented actors of Burmese cinema. She is also the mother of well known singer and actress May Sweet.-Biography:...
also starred in a number of films where she appeared with leading men of the day like Pyay Nyein and Kyaw Thu
Kyaw Thu
Kyaw Thu is a two-time Myanmar Academy Award winning film actor and film director. One of the top leading men of Burmese cinema in the 1980s and 1990s, Kyaw Thu continues to star in films and has directed several successful films...
. In the 1990s, she chose to focus on her music career, and stopped making films. Though the Burmese pop music scene had changed from slow rock/pop to Europop
Europop
Europop refers to a style of pop music that first developed in today's form in Europe, throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and ’90s...
, techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and hip-hop, she stayed with her tried-and-true pop ballads. With her strong fan base, she was able to keep releasing new albums. Ironically, the next generation of female singers promptly covered many of her popular songs (both covers and originals) though none achieved her success. The songs remain closely identified with her. The longevity of her popularity and dominance at the top remains unparalleled in Myanmar where even most successful female singers do not last more than a few years. To date, she remains the only singer to have achieved success in both Western-style pop and classic Burmese music genres.
May Sweet left the Burmese music scene and the country in the late 1990s after she was married to a Burmese-American from New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1997. She resides with her husband in Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
. She continues to perform for Burmese expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
audiences around the world.
Early life
Swe Aye Myint was born on 13 February 1962 in YangonYangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
, Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
to Myint Myint Khin
Myint Myint Khin
Myint Myint Khin is a five-time Myanmar Academy Award winning Burmese film actress. She is considered one of the most talented actors of Burmese cinema. She is also the mother of well known singer and actress May Sweet.-Biography:...
, a top leading lady of Burmese cinema and a singer, and Khin Maung Nyunt, a lawyer. Swe Aye Myint, nicknamed Mi Swe, was the fourth child of five daughters. Deeply interested in music since childhood, young Mi Swe was able to sing classical Burmese songs called thachingyi by 8. Her singing ability caught the ear of Ba Than, a famous Burmese harp
Burmese Harp
Burmese harp may refer to:*The saung, a harp played in Myanmar*The Burmese Harp , a 1956 Japanese film and its 1985 remake, both directed by Kon Ichikawa...
master, and a family friend. Ba Than trained her to play the Burmese harp. Still at age 8, she first made her concert appearance at a Taungoo
Taungoo
-Administration:*Taungoo District Peace and Development Council - List of Six Townships*Taungoo Township Peace and Development Council*Taungoo Ward Peace and Development Council - 22 Wards*Taungoo Municipal*District and Township Immigration Dept...
pagoda festival (Festival of the Twenty Eight Buddhas), singing Nwe Yin Win
Nwe Yin Win
Nwe Yin Win is a Burmese singer, and is considered one of the pioneers of modern Burmese pop music. Nwe Yin Win was born in Sagaing to parents a Bamar father Min Swe and an Anglo-Burmese mother "Cathy" Tin Tin Hla. She attended the English-speaking St. Francis Girls' School and St...
's famous hit Mimi Lay Ye Maymay Kyaung.
May Sweet graduated from the Dagon 1 High School in 1978, and received a bachelor's degree in botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
from Yangon University in 1982.
Becoming May Sweet
Soon after her first stage appearance in 1970, Mi Swe was offered a chance to record a duet song with Nwe Yin Win, another family friend, in Nwe Yin Win's upcoming album. Right before the release of the album, Myint Myint Khin chose a stage name for her daughter. The name was May Sweet, the result of Burmese wordplay (called Zagalein) of the name Mi Swe (mḭ sʰwè) to May Sweet (mè sʰwḭ). (Zagalein is similar to vesreVesre
Vesre is one of the features of Rioplatense Spanish slang. Natives of Buenos Aires and Uruguay use vesre sparingly in colloquial speaking, and never in formal circumstances...
in Argentine Spanish, or verlan
Verlan
Verlan is an argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words...
in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, reversing the sounds of a word or words to produce a slang or colloquial name.)
At 14, May Sweet's career began in earnest. She released her first album with Zaw One
Zaw One
Zaw One was a Burmese actor and singer. He was famous as Thingyan Minthar Gyi in Myanmar.-Biography:Zaw One was born Thaung Dan on 17 July 1945, in Mandalay, son of Mya Mya and "Taingchit" Thakin Thein Pe. He attended Taingchit High School in Mandalay. He received singing lessons from Bo Kin,...
, one of the leading men of Burmese cinema at that time. Her follow-up album was with her mother, covering many of her mother's hits from the 1950s. Trained in classical Burmese music, May Sweet with the help of noted musician Maung Kyemon turned to old Burmese songs from the pre-war era (1930s) by the great May Shin
May Shin
May Shin was a Burmese actress and singer, who was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s.-Biography:May Shin was born Than Shin in 1917 to businessman Khin Lay and his wife Pwa Yon . in Mandalay in British Burma. She was the youngest of five siblings. She passed seventh grade from Wesleyan School....
, and updated them with modern Western music and arrangements. Her covers proved immensely popular, and she became a household name at 17.
Film
At 17, riding her popularity as a singer, May Sweet entered into a film career, getting the lead role in her first film. She made numerous films opposite the top leading men of the day such as Kyaw ThuKyaw Thu
Kyaw Thu is a two-time Myanmar Academy Award winning film actor and film director. One of the top leading men of Burmese cinema in the 1980s and 1990s, Kyaw Thu continues to star in films and has directed several successful films...
, Yan Aung, Zin Waing, Pyay Nyein, and Ye Aung. She never achieved anywhere near her mother's popularity or success in films, and stopped making films when she was about 30.
Life in America
In 1997, May Sweet married Andrew Lee (also known as Zaw Win), a Burmese AmericanBurmese American
Burmese Americans are Americans of Burmese descent. The term encompasses people of all ethnic backgrounds with ancestry in the present-day Myanmar . Burmese Americans are a subgroup of Asian Americans...
from New York. They first met during one of her trips to the United States where she was invited to perform at a fundraiser for a Burmese monastery. She left for the US soon after. Now working at a middle school in the US, she continues to perform for Burmese expatriate audiences around the world during her time-off. She and her husband have no children.
Fake news of her death
On 17 March 2008, news of her death first surfaced on the Internet, including her mother's Wikipedia article, and spread quickly. According to a report purportedly distributed by Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, she had been killed in a traffic accident during a visit to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where she was preparing to perform in a concert to mark the Burmese New Year
Thingyan
Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Water Festival and usually falls around mid-April . It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating in the new year...
on April 19. Despite the dubious English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
of the report, the story was quickly picked up by bloggers and some exiled media agencies, which republished the bogus news item on their Web sites without confirmation. Within minutes, the Burmese blogosphere was full of expressions of grief over the sudden passing of the popular singer. Hours later, however, readers realized they had been fooled, and the story was pulled from Burmese media Web sites and blogs. According to Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...
-based The Irrawaddy
The Irrawaddy
This article is about a newsmagazine. For other uses of the term, please see Irrawaddy.For the Second World War battle honour, see Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations...
, it was the first case of fake news involving a Burmese celebrity that originated on the Internet.
Another report of her death surfaced on 12 March 2011, this time on the web site of the Irrawaddy itself. The exile-run media organization's web site, which reportedly was hacked, published a few hoax articles, including an alleged feud between the Irrawaddy's editor and Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
as well as one on May Sweet's death. In an online column dated 14 March 2011, the Irrawaddy repeated its claim that its site was hacked, and that the supposed reporter of the articles, Violet Cho, was a former reporter who left the news organization in 2009. For her part, the singer instantly issued a statement online that the news was a hoax, and accused the Irrawaddy of perpetrating the hoax because she either did not believe or was not aware of the news that the Irrawaddy's site was hacked. However, in a blog post, Irrawaddy refused to apologize the affected parties including singer May Sweet by saying that "We can't say that the hackers won't come back in future. If that the case, we have to learn how to apologize rather than writing news."
Album discography
May Sweet has recorded dozens of albums and hundreds of songs in many genres in her long career. (In early 2010, she released her first new album in over a decade.) The following is a partial list.Solo albums
- Myatlayngon
- Chit Ye Zin
- Shweledaing
- Myakyaryan
- Panthi Thachinmya 1
- Panthi Thachinmya 2
- Panthi Thachinmya 3
- Panthi Thachinmya 4
- Panthi Thachinmya 5
- Panthi Thachinmya 6
- Panthi Thachinmya 7 (1987)
- Panthi Feeling
- Pazunzeik Kalay 1
- Pazunzeik Kalay 2
- Natmyinbyan (1982)
- Ethiopia (1983)
- Hnalontha-De-Ga Sai Htee Saing 1 (1985)
- Hnalontha-De-Ga Sai Htee Saing 2 (1985)
- Yin-De-Ga Sai Htee Saing 3
- Biscope-Hte-Ga Sweet (1985)
- Do-Ye Achein
- Achit-gyaung
- Thon-Pin-Lein
- Thi-De Mahola
- Radio Sweet
- Ohnhnauk Sa Nay Bi
- Hnahtat Lwan Koko
- Shwe Yin Aye
- Su Sweet Diary
- Yin-De-Ga Soe Paing 1
- Yin-De-Ga Soe Paing 2
- Aerobic (1990)
- Arlon Kaung Ba Zay (1991)
- Yin-De-Ga Sai Htee Saing (1992)
- Koko Ba Lo Mohn-Da-Le (1992)
- Cartoon Zatlaik (1992)
- Nabanhsan (1993)
- San Francisco (1994)
- Amyedan Min
- Htoo Ein Thin Winyin (1997)
- Yin-De-Ga Khun Than Tun
- Pan Padauk Pwedaw
- Na-Le Hta Naw
- Myitta Than Way
- Thuma-Ye Kabya
- Chitthu-Ye Thachin
- Maya Koko
- Sweet Melody of the Heart (2010)
With various artists
- Shwe Yokshin Zondwe 1 (with Thein Dan)
- Shwe Yokshin Zondwe 2 (with Thein Dan)
- Shwe Yokshin Zondwe 3 (with Khin Maung Htoo)
- Mingala Shwe Zondwe (with Thu MaungThu MaungThu Maung was a Myanmar Academy Award-winning film actor, singer as well as a distinguished writer and director. Throughout his film career, Thu Maung acted in over 40 films. He was born in Rangoon, Burma to parents U Thadu, a well-known author and director, and Daw Khin Nyo. Thu Maung was...
) - Hla Myitzu (with Thu Maung)
- Tu-Hna-Ko Taingpyi (with KaiserKaiser (Burmese singer)Kaiser is a Burmese singer-songwriter who was most popular in the late 1970s and mid 1980s. The ethnic Rakhine singer was arguably the most successful male singer in Myanmar in the early 1980s. His nonthreatening rockabilly songs were popular with the young and the old alike...
) - Akyinna Einmet (with Htoo Ein Thin and Aung YinAung YinAung Yin is a well-known Burmese pop singer, who reached the height of his career in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Born to U Han Yin and Daw Khin Myaing in Rangoon, he is the eldest of three brothers. Aung Yin began singing on stage in the 4th standard and immediately joined the music industry...
) - Yin-De-Ga Lashio (with Gangawdaw Myo Aung)
- Nwe Mo Hsaung (with Yan Aung)
- Shay Ye Zet (with Yan Aung)
- Shwe Mingala Zaung 1 (1997)
- Shwe Mingala Zaung 2
- Lu-Dway Thi-Lay Po-Kaung-Lay
- Achit Zondwe
- Amyat No Zon Hnin (with Sai Htee SaingSai Htee SaingSai Htee Saing was a distinguished Burmese singer and songwriter of Shan descent, which featured prominently throughout his music career. Throughout his career, he recorded 2 to 3 Shan language albums and 30 to 40 Burmese language albums. He was especially known for composing country music.Htee...
) (1992) - Maung Nyein Chan Thanthaya (with Soe Paing)
- Chitthudo Atwet Zondwe Tay 1 (Duets for Lovers 1)
- Kyunnaw Do Ne Khit Thon Khit
- May Sweet and Successful Singers 1
- May Sweet and Successful Singers 2
- Shwe-Yaung Einmetmya