POPULAR SONG AS ETHICAL DISCOURSE IN POST-INDEPENDENCE MYANMAR: LOVE, AFFECT, AND CULTURAL SOVEREIGNTY

Abstract

This article examines the cultural and ethical significance of Ko Saw Nyein’s songs Chit Pyone Hnin Si (Permission to Love) and Pwint Oo (First Bloom) during Myanmar’s Union period (1948–1962). Contextualizing these works within post-independence nation-building, the study contends that popular love songs serve not only as expressions of personal emotion but also as ethical discourses that shape emotional life and contribute to the formation of emerging postcolonial identities. Methodologically, the study combines historical contextualization, close lyrical analysis, and detailed musical examination. It focuses on melodic contour, modal inflection, pacing, and timbre, supported by ethnographic and archival sources on reception and performance practices. This integrated approach shows how Ko Saw Nyein’s compositions encode contrasting affective orientations—restraint and emergence—through specific musical structures. The analysis shows that Chit Pyone Hnin Si expresses longing through melodic restraint, delayed cadences, and subtle modal language. Pwint Oo signifies renewal with expanded melodic range, upward gestures, and brighter modal inflections. These compositional strategies act as culturally legible affective frameworks. They shape how listeners experience love, patience, and hope during a time of political uncertainty and cultural change. The article contributes to ethnomusicology and popular music studies by demonstrating how musical structure operates as a form of affective mediation in postcolonial contexts. It positions popular song as a key site through which cultural sovereignty and ethical subjectivity are negotiated.