Than Swe - Lover of the Heart

Waves and waves

"After going through the roughest journey of my life, I finally arrived at a peaceful haven..."

The emerald-clear waters of the "River of Music" are gently splashed by the gentle breeze, and the waves, which are rolling freely, rise and lash the shore with twelve sounds, creating a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere.

The saying goes, "In my hand, there are red, yellow, blue, white,

"It's a big hug with colorful, bright literary flowers..."

These flowers are my own treasures, which I have laboriously collected while traversing the jungle of life... I have been floating on the winding waves of the musical boat, picking out the delicate petals of the flowers of literature, one by one, in their harmonious colors...

Oh... the colorful and bright petals forming a pattern... floating on the gently moving waves... I can't help but think...

I don't know how long I've been in a daze... I've almost forgotten even my beautiful, faded past.

But........now, the shadow of the polar star that seemed to be coming out of the water, distracting my mind, which was focused only on the petals of literature and poetry and the waves of the sea, is hidden...

The starlight, shining with its brilliant colors, was lost in the ripples of the sky, so I thought, "Would it be better if I could completely withdraw my attention from the petals and the waves and just gaze up at the edge of the northern sky, where I thought the real Polaris was?"

But.........as I look up like this, I will lose sight of my love petals floating on the waves......

Ko Saw Nyein, unable to continue writing his letter, set his pen aside and stared.

It's already past midnight...

The Kyimyindaing neighborhood, which was bustling with the sounds of buses, horse-drawn carriages, and people, was as quiet as a sleeping baby.

His mind wandered beyond the Kyimyindaing neighborhood and recalled the events of his childhood.

The journey of life he had to go through was tiring.

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His parents, U Maung Gyi and Daw Tin, had a successful oil mill in Myingyan, Upper Burma, and on the 8th day of the first lunar month of 1286, they gave birth to their first son, a son. About a year after the birth of their first son, the oil mill burned down, and the three sons could no longer live in Ywatharyar. They moved to Lower Burma, where they raised racehorses near the old racecourse on Pagoda Road in Yangon. U Maung Gyi and Daw Tin, who had previously been poor, stayed in Yangon, but their business did not improve and their situation deteriorated.

When my eldest son, Ko Saw Nyein, was in school, he was unable to attend the larger schools and was sent to study traditional literature at U Bo Aye Kyaung on 21st Street in Yangon. After he finished seventh grade at that school, he continued his education at U Parama Kyaung in Thayet Taw until he finished tenth grade.

Ko Saw Nyein was the one who, at that time, approached the shore of the vast and deep ocean of art.

When he had time, he would hum songs with incomprehensible lyrics. He would often sing and dance like a big actor in a play, with his body swaying, laughing, and acting in all sorts of ways. Then, when he felt like playing the violin, he would make his own stringed instrument without asking his parents for help. When he was playing, his father bought him a violin.

The house they lived in was close to Jubilee Hall, where festivals were often held, and Ko Saw Nyein Kham would sing and sing the music he heard from those festivals in his own voice, as best he could.

He was not only talented in music, but also in literature and painting.

Around 1938, a student from Myoma, Ko Nyi Nyi (now the editor of Samardhi), published a cartoon magazine called Katon Ruik Khon. At one point, the cartoon magazine announced a cartoon competition for students who were interested in cartooning, with the title “A person drawing a toy.” Ko Saw Nyin’s cartoon was chosen as the first prize. The picture that Ko Saw Nyin drew was “not a picture of a painter drawing a toy car…it was a picture of a little girl drawing a toy car with a string.

When Saw Nyein, a fourteen-year-old student with a bright imagination, was called to the cartoon magazine and awarded nine kyats as the first prize, he said, “I entered this cartoon competition... not because I wanted money... I wanted to draw cartoons, I wanted to paint.” Ko Nyi Nyi, the editor of the cartoon magazine, was so impressed that he was assigned to draw a weekly cartoon in the cartoon magazine.

At that time, his role in the cartoon was "Maung Kya Bam". As well as his extensive literary knowledge, his cartoon character Maung Kya Bam was also able to entertain the audience with his serious and humorous words.

When he graduated from the tenth grade and left school, he worked not only as an animator at the cartoon studio but also as a writer for the cartoon studio, along with Ko Nyi Nyi and Ko Phonye Kywe (the late Myoma Phonye Kywe).

At that moment, the storm of World War II struck with great force, and Saw Nyein's life journey also changed and became dark again.

Before the World War, they moved to the Pi-tauk-tan area of ​​Kyi Myin Daing, but when the war broke out, they fled to Khraym Township and hid.

No matter how much he faced the criticisms of the times, he remained unfazed and focused on improving his art. Wherever he went, he found his violin as his companion, making his life easier.

During the Japanese period, he was happy only with his music. While he was in the forest, enjoying himself with his violin, at the invitation of some friends who were familiar with music, Ko Saw Nyein went to Deidre. The time when Ko Saw Nyein went to Deidre was not a good time. It was a time when the British and Americans had returned to Burma after the rebellion against the Japanese, and political and party politics were in turmoil.

Ko Saw Nyein was not a man who cared about the times. The only thing he cared about in his life was music, and he only came to the concert at the invitation of people who knew him. However, the politicians in the city... were suspicious of him and followed him, but when they learned about his true life, they became close friends. Here is "Rangoon Ba Swe"

Lay, “Gita Lu Lin Maung Ko Ko,” and other musicians and artists joined forces to create a play called “War Veterans” and it took off for Yangon.

Ko Saw Nyein himself took to the stage and participated as a character. Then, while performing with the theater group, his health deteriorated and he had to return to his parents.

When he recovered, he heard that a cartoon magazine had been opened in Yangon again, so he went to Yangon and lived with Ko Nyi Nyi and Ko Phonye Kywe. While there, he wrote a novel that combined the Abhidhamma, worldly knowledge, and music he had studied with a mixture of romance and love. The novel was called "Death"

It was published by the modern bookstore under the title "Maung Than".

However, the literary world is not a smooth and peaceful place like a bed of roses. Ko Saw Nyein, not daring to venture into the uncertain and uncertain realm of literature, had to work as a writer and earn a regular salary at the Samadhi Newspaper, which was expanded from the Cartoons and Comics Publishing House.

Thus, although his life was full of ups and downs, hot and cold, there was one good shadow that always comforted him. That shadow was the 'musical house'.

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