News Blog for Kinnari Center

http://news. yahoo. com/s/ap/20080504/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_cyclone

Please help out in any way you can. Burma is poor enough. The people can’t recover without your help.
Even basic needs like WATER is so limited!!!

Contact your Red Cross or UN Humanitarian Assistance programs or organize a community response to gather donations of money or basic items (clothing, food, water, etc.) and find ways to send them over the people of Burma if you can. I’m sure any help will be good help. Thank you so much!

We’ve finally tested and launched our podcast channel. You can visit our Interactive Media site to listen in. The pilot podcast was a mix of Burmese national anthem instrumental music, a traditional ‘pwe’ or performance music piece, and a Shan drums song, aired on April 25th. We recently aired on April 30th our first poetry readings of selected works from Burmese poets Aung Phone Myint and Maung Yin Hmuu. We will be adding podcasts on a weekly basis. Tune in regularly for more and the latest.

Burmese New Year and Thingyan came and ended rather quickly here at the center. We sold Chicken Satay at a Thingyan festival in Daly City. There are still Thingyan festivals going on in the Bay Area, and in other parts of the United States, as well. The month of April is full of food, fun, music and gatherings as Overseas Burmese celebrate one of the most important festivals in our culture, and try to keep our heritage in foreign lands.

We have updated our website recently, and will continue to do so as the center is being shaped and formed. We also recruited a treasurer on our Board of Directors. Do visit the center’s home pages for more information. There are also plans to create an event calendar to track cultural and art events in the Bay Area, and whenever possible, in the whole of United States, so that you can check them out as they occur. We hope to connect you to the wide variety of cultural and art events that are out there. If you have any events that you are organizing, feel free to contact us at admin[at]burmesearts[dot]org and we will post it on our calendar.

Kinnara is a mythical half human-half bird celestial being in Burmese folklore, also common in Southeast Asian Buddhist mythology in other cultures, such as Thai and Hindu. The story tells of a beautiful love-story between two such beings. The female form of this being is called Kinnari. She is a symbol of art and literature, dance, song and poetry, feminine beauty, grace, and lastly, accomplishment. We pick this name because it encompasses all that we value: arts and literature, music, culture, beauty, education and progress.

Below is a video clip of the Burmese version of Kinnara-Kinnari dance:

The center is in the midst of creation. It is a new beginning for the arts and culture world for the Burmese community and those who are interested in the rich world of Burma. We are setting up the infrastructure right now.