HOUSE OF THE WEEK
Ideal rental for small family
THIS one-storey, 1225 square-foot house in Tarmwe township is ideal for a small family. Located a convenient 20 minutes from downtown in Nat Chaung Street, off Kyaikkansan Road, it also has a compound of 4800 square feet, a rare size for the location, and well worth the K200,000 monthly rental. more
Traditional drum makers wait for buyers
(Volume 26, No. 514)
Residents of Watsu village near Nay Pyi Taw make Myanmar traditional drums last month. Pic: Aung Shin
MAKERS of Myanmar traditional drums are looking for new opportunities to tap foreign markets, rather than continue to rely on local buyers.
Watsu village, near Nay Pyi Taw, is a centre of traditional drum manufacturing in Myanmar. Its residents have been making the drums – long with an open bottom – here for many decades, when the area now known as Nay Pyi Taw was little more than dirt and scrub.
Drum makers in Watsu are now hoping that the opening up of Myanmar’s new capital to foreign tourists will provide an opportunity to increase sales and profit margins.
“We have worked on making traditional drums for many years. We go around the country to sell these handicrafts at seasonal pagoda festivals. But we can’t really make much profit from selling drums to locals,” said U Nyunt Shwe, a drum maker in Watsu.
“We want to sell these drums to foreigners. If they like our handicrafts, we could make an attractive daily income.”
The drums sell locally for K500 to K1500, depending on their size. Drum makers travel to pagoda festivals in Shwebo, Monywa, Mandalay and other places in Myanmar to sell their products. The Taungbyone nat spirit festival, held at a small town just north of Mandalay, is the best festival for drum sales.
Five years ago U Nyunt Shwe and his business partner moved to Watsu from their native village in Yamethin township, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of Nay Pyi Taw, because of a shortage of wood in the Yamethin area. Their native village in Yamethin is also famous for its traditional drums.
In Watsu, they purchase the wooden shells of the drums from other craftsmen in the town and then finish them by lining the base with strings and covering one end with goat leather.
“We produce various sizes of drums to sell at pagoda festival, including special drums for small children. Sometimes, we get special orders to produce larger drums and for that we use special wood and can charge more money,” U Nyun Shwe said.
With his business partner U Nyunt Shwe can produce up to 100 drums a day but the pair still make little profit, as they can only sell about 300 drums at an average festival.
“I have been in this career for 30 years but my life has not changed much yet; my living standard is still the same,” said U Nyi Nyi Lwin, who works together with U Nyunt Shwe.
Most people in Watsu village earn a living making unfinished drums by shaping the wood and then smoothing it with a lathe machine.
“We collect raw wood in the forest to make traditional drum. We get K150 for one unfinished drum. We can sell as much as we can produce. We can make 15 to 20 semi-finished drums a day,” said U Shinn Maung, a drum maker with 35 years experience.
“The problem is to get wood. We can’t get enough wood nowadays,” he added.
There are many kinds of drums in traditional Myanmar culture, including kauksathamate (used by female farmers); kalatharte (used by young men); swantawgyite (used by older people); Shan drums; Danu drums; and small drums for children. Many of these can be seen in a Myanmar traditional orchestra.
The drums are made from various kinds of local wood, including padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus), showy silk cotton tree (Salmalia insignis) and silk cotton tree (Salmalia malabarica).
