Myo Kyawt Myaing

Myo Kyawt Myaing (မျိုးကျော့မြိုင်; ; born 29 April 1971) is a Burmese singer, record producer and audio engineer.

Myo Kyawt Myaing was born on 29 April 1971 in Yangon to May May Tin, a teacher, and Kyawt Myaing, a pilot with the Union of Burma Airways.

The youngest of four siblings, he has two elder sisters and an elder brother.

From his father's side, Myaing has Mon ancestry, and hails from a long line of British colonial era senior civil servants and Konbaung period nobility.

He grew up in the affluent Seven-Mile Junction neighborhood, and attended the elite TTC School.

He had been dabbling in songwriting since 1986, and in 1989 founded a band called Virus 3.

He enrolled at the University of Yangon, majoring in geology in 1987 but was left stranded a year later when the military government shut down all the schools in the country, following the 8888 Uprising.

It was during this hiatus that his music career began in earnest.

He was one of the most successful Burmese singers in the 1990s and 2000s, and is considered one of the most influential recording artists for having introduced rap music to Myanmar.

He has released 11 albums and at least 34 compilation albums.

Despite his "godfather of Burmese rap" moniker, his songs mainly consist of dance, synthpop and remixed music.

Myo Kyawt Myaing is Governor Sitke Maung Htaw Lay's four times great-grandnephew.

He came to decide that he would continue his education in a field related to music, and he enrolled at the SAE Institute, Singapore in 1990.

After graduating from the school with a degree in audio and music production in 1992, he returned to Myanmar, and released his first album Moe Dway Ywa Nay Chein Khana later that year.

The album consisted of mostly Eurodance-influenced tracks such as "Einmet Met De" and more conventional pop songs like "A-Chit Mya Zwa A-Twet" but also contained a remixed rap version of J Maung Maung's classic "Kyanaw Ma Kaung Bu".

He followed up with his 1994 album Virus 3, whose title track "Rap N Roll" was essentially Eurodance-themed rap.

Both albums were well received, and were to leave a lasting influence on the local music scene.

He came to be recognized as the "godfather of Burmese rap" and someone who "introduced rap to Burmese listeners."

Despite his notoriety as a rap pioneer, Myaing had always considered himself more than a rapper.

His musical sensibilities lay more with remixing Eurodance and American rap hits and with creating more soulful, if heavily synthesized, love songs.

His third album 2000 Remix (2000) showcased not only his remixing skills but also his songwriting skills.

To be sure, his songwriting, like that of most Burmese pop songwriters of the day, consisted mainly of sampling or covering foreign songs and inserting Burmese lyrics in them.

The artists he has sampled/covered range from the likes of Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, NWA to Nirvana to Eurodance acts like Fatboy Slim and Rimini Project.

He has also remixed and covered several Burmese hits of previous eras, ranging from older covers of Western songs like Gangawdaw Myo Aung's "Moe Baw Hma Nay Gyin De" to older original-tune hits like Mar Mar Aye's "Sinza Ya Ohn Me".

A few of his songs are influenced by A-ha, one of his favorite music bands.

The 2000s saw his music increasingly charting its own course.

The Burmese rap/hip-hop scene was turning more hardcore, with the success of Acid's debut album Sa-Tin Chein (2000).

Myaing forged ahead with his own brand of dance themed, remixed, rap-influenced music, epitomized by "Thagya Min", and "A-Hmat-Ta-Ya Thingyan", as well as slower synthpop songs like "Hsu Taung Ge Bu De" and "Thissa Shi Gyay".

At the peak of popularity in the mid-2000s, Myaing was involved in several compilation albums with other artists.

Most of his albums since the late 2000s have been with other artists.

Over his career, he has appeared in at least 34 compilation albums with other artists.

In 2003, he declared his ambition to be more than a rapper with "Rap Thachin Hso Yin", naturally by rapping in both Burmese and English that he "absolutely does not like rap".

To be sure, he never completely abandoned his rap roots or bravado.

His 2004 "My Name is Myo Kyawt Myaing" announces that:

His unique brand of music achieved enormous success in Myanmar, culminating in Lu Phyit Ya De Dokkha (2004).

Several songs from the album became his standards.

His success enabled him to increase production values of his music videos for the Dokkha album.

He has released three major albums since 2009.

He collaborated with the top film actress and singer Htun Aeindra Bo in Da-Ge Ma Chit Phe Ne (2009).

In 2012, he released his first solo album Gaba Gyi A-Pyin-Bet since 2004 although the album included a few of his past hits like "Rap Thachin Hso Yin" and "Thissa Shi Gyay".