GITAMEIT AT 21 BIRTHING AND RAISING A COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL IN MYANMAR REFLECTIONS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM NAY WIN, NE MYO AUNG AND KIT YOUNG

Abstract

In the early 2000s, the founders of Gitameit Music Institute in Yangon, Myanmar sought ways to build community and confidence for young Burmese with synergies of learning creatively through music and art. Years of societal isolation - enforced by a repressive military dictatorship - prevented contact with their peers in other countries pursuing advanced music studies in higher-level institutions. The founders grappled with seminal questions: how to teach creatively, initiate new ideas in performance with outsiders, and build new local audiences within the confines of constant military surveillance; examine why, yet respect that western music cultures were valued over those of Myanmar’s indigenous groups and traditional Burmese music; how to convince donors and sponsors of why developing higher level musical aspirations for young people in Myanmar is fundamental to growing a healthy society.

These conversational reflections celebrating the 21st anniversary of Gitameit glance at specific events and people in Gitameit’s community history. These are pivotal stages as the participants assess not only educational growth but emotional valences of both danger and joy and how this growth will be cultivated in Myanmar’s uncertain future.