Thxa Soe, from the cover of his album Hmwelo Ma Wa.

DANCE remixes of traditional songs are now the most popular music genre during water festival, according to production companies.

U Chan Hein, owner of Yadanar Myaing Music Production, says the trend started when DJ Okkar Oo Thar released the album DJ Remix 2006 for that year’s water festival.

“Dance music goes well during water festival because most people want to dance and celebrate, they want to hear upbeat music,” U Chan Hein says. “So each year DJs release remix version of well-known love songs, which really are not related to water festival but still popular. This has become very common after Okkar Oo Thar’s remix version was a big hit during water festival in 2006 – the remixes are made so they are listenable and lively, easy to dance to.”

DJ Thxa Soe is another artist who has in recent years released popular dance albums for water festival, including Amhway (A Blend) in 2008. He says the popularity of both hip-hop inspired dance and mainstream dance music should be “welcomed” and not seen as a threat to traditional culture. He points out that rock music was first derided as “gypsy music” but is now widely accepted and rock bands are now part of the mainstream music scene.

“The development and popularity of this music style should be welcomed,” Thxa Soe says. “It has taken a while for music produced by DJs to become accepted here but now it seems to have captured the audience’s imagination, particularly during water festival time.”

He says improvements in technology, like the introduction of digital editing and recording, has improved the quality of the music, while at the same time making the production process more accessible for artists.

“DJs have been very popular elsewhere, ever since the late 70s when Kool Herc experimented with producing sound by scratching records. Now the technique has improved significantly and musicians can use the computer instead of a record player to make sounds.”

U Chan Hein says the new trend has revitalised the water festival music market. Previously, it was common for artists to re-release songs from the popular 1985 movie, Thingyan Moe (Thingyan Rain), which is still broadcast on television during the water festival.

The songs were originally composed by Myo Ma Nyein and are generally considered his finest work. But U Chan Hein says the popular melodies in Thingyan Moe sometimes stifled new water festival creations.

“Every year, many singers release new versions of songs from Thingyan Moe as the water festival draws near – the most popular are Thingyan Moe, Ngwe Oo Kabyar (Spring Poem) and Nha Ko Tu Chit Tha Mhya (Mutual Love). Each year they would be re-released and because of this there has not been many new, quality Thingyan songs created,” he says.

Despite the popularity of dance music, U Chan Hein says the number of releases overall is down on previous years.

“It was hoped that around 25 Thingyan music albums would be produced this year, from all music production houses in Yangon. However, only 10 albums have been released so far because the market for Thingyan music albums is down.” he says.

Yadanar Myaing Music Production has released two albums – 2009&Thingyan, a compilation of traditional songs performed by Nay Ye Mun, and April Queen, an album of modern pop songs by female artists, including Rebecca Win and Chit Thu Wai.