A vigil at a protest in Yangon in March. (Photo credit Unsplash/Zinko Hein.) 5:11 PM Many people around the world chose not to celebrate Thingyan this year in light of the current political and humanitarian crisis occurring in Myanmar. Thingyan is the Burmese Water Festival that is traditionally celebrated in mid-April towards the end of the hot and dry season in Myanmar. Thingyan, which translates to “changing over,” is the celebration of Burma’s New Year. This year, opponents of military rule in Myanmar cancelled traditional festivities and held small protests of defiance across the country instead. This was the second year of cancelled festivities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executive Director of Buffalo String Works (BSW) Yuki Numata Resnick and her staff are attempting something bold close to 20 musical performances by 20 different musicians across the world, who are working together to play an iconic Burmese March on short notice.
It will be one of several performances that BSW is putting together for a concert that wasn’t on the calendar early last week.
“We had a parent reach out to us directly and said, ‘This terrible thing is happening to our families, to our friends in Myanmar,’” Resnick said. “They asked, ‘Miss Yuki, can you please help us raise awareness and share information with the local Buffalo community about what s happening thousands of miles away?’ And so when we received that message, I immediately sent it on to our staff and teaching artists.”