Myanmar food: love and hate
Posted by: Fats in: Fats, Vitamins & Minerals > Burma 2004Although I set the alarm to 7:30AM it was almost 9:30AM when I woke up - and so I had to rush because the sound workshop starts at 10. I did manage to wash up and get breakfast - as BY promised, there was oun nou khou shwe waiting in the kitchen - noodles, soup with coconut milk and some spices, fried gourd and dried chili. Then at exactly 10AM KMZ arrived and shortly the other workshop participants. DD came too and it was nice to see her again and that she’s interested in the workshop. Then we sat outside for some coffee and tea when LES suddenly arrived.
Well, that turned into another very political moment - LES started to talk about his life as a karen ethnic minority and as a photojournalist. The older people were interested in what he had to say but the younger ones, especially the lady from the CBI NGO, HWA, wasn’t too interested. KZL, young artist, later became more interested especially after he observed that I also had some (restrained) political views. Perhaps they were a bit afraid of LES’s lack of tact which could get everybody in trouble.
And as LES was describing life in the ethnic states (extreme poverty, violence), KMZ started to cry. KSW joked lightly “you made my friend cry!” The city people, like my friends here in Yangon know very little - most of them know nothing - of what is going on in the borders and the minority states of Myanmar. Of course, the military government makes sure that people know nothing.
Then we proceeded with the workshop and LES took some photos. Later that afternoon he came back with prints for everyone! Then LES invited me for dinner at his apartment again tomorrow to meet Aye Aye Win - award-winning lady journalist working for AP. If I’m not too tired I will probably go - and if HWA can’t go with me, maybe I will try to go with BY.
I asked KMZ and ZY about the breakfast I’ve been having - and ZY tells me that moke hingar soup includes essence from a particular kind of tree. No wonder it smelled so strange. He also told me that one would need a strong stomach to eat the kind of breakfasts I’ve been having - and later KMZ told me about the mother of a poor artist who sold moke hingar for a living. It seems that moke hingar and such breakfasts are the kind of Myanmar food for the very poor people in the city. I certainly hope I don’t get sick. I remember over dinner with my host’s rich Singaporean friend J, she was talking about several people she knew who went to Myanmar and got really very sick in the stomach - and my host also talked about being really sick - throwing up and not being able to eat for five straight days on his first stay in Myanmar years ago.
Food probably isn’t very clean out in the streets and the tea shops. I just had dinner prepared by BY and there’s hair in the rice and the chili pork, and god knows what else is in the food.
Just finished the CD-ROM for the sound art workshop - a kind of documentation and reference for the participants which includes our photos and the finished works. I’m quite pleased with it and I’m very happy with how the workshop turned out. It was really difficult though because electricity kept fluctuating and it was really very hot (Myanmar is notorious for 8-12 hour black-outs so the center has a generator but it’s not really very powerful and they’re also trying to save on petrol (which has become more expensive).
Anyway, we had 9 people attend the sound workshop, and the next day we had 8 people, and we came up with only 7 works (which is not so bad). There would’ve been 8 works but HWA wasn’t able to complete her work because earlier in the day was this power fluctuation problem, and the generator doesn’t seem to be working and the UPS wasn’t fully fully charged.
What this workshop is about
• This workshop is about the use of sound as material for artistic work.
• This workshop is about how sound can be manipulated and organized.
• This workshop is also about how sound is presented into a sound environment with emphasis on the way it is perceived by an individual or by society.This workshop encourages:
• Artists to use new material in their work – such as sound and the environment;
• Artists to use new process in their work – such as mixing of digital and non-digital techniques;
• Artists to develop their own ideas, concepts, and theory of sound art;
• Artists to shape their own history and culture of contemporary art-making.
Workshop structure:
• Discussion about basic sound art concepts;
• Presentation of examples of sound art and music compositions
• Recording and editing of sounds;
• Listening to and discussing the sound works;
• Finishing the compilation and documentation of the sound works.
I’m very disappointed that THA never arrived - although there’s still time for him to try to get in touch with me. However, he also reminds me of some of my students who don’t really feel any urgency in their work. Or maybe he is running into some problems. Whatever the case, I just get disappointed but am tired enough not to worry too much about such things.
