In late 2012 four local alternative bands met up in Yangon’s Kan Daw Gyi Park with a few guitars and around twenty friends for an impromptu acoustic gig. Yangon was a city with no venues and little support for alternative music filled with covers bands and imported pop music, opportunities for underground musicians to perform were virtually non-existent. The organizers of the small acoustic show, Eaiddhi and Ye Ngwe Soe, had been musical collaborators since school and had finally realized that if they wanted anything to change in their city they needed to do it themselves.
Encouraged by the response from that first small crowd Eaiddhi convinced a local restaurant owner to let him organize an acoustic gig, followed by a third Jam It! show with full sound and ten bands. Since then the movement has grown exponentially, with shows pulling in crowds by the hundred and a social media following of more than 20,000.
From humble beginnings with acoustic guitars in a Yangon park, Jam It! has developed into the most talked-about underground creative movement in the country. Despite an ongoing battle to find venues and support, to date Jam It! has showcased more than forty different acts in Yangon and Mandalay, produced its first promotional EP, hosted some of the country’s best young street artists, worked alongside Wathann Film Festival, Myanmar’s first indigenous film festival, as well as the first Yangon Street Art Festival and has promoted the best of Burmese creativity by working with media ranging from local press, radio and TV to a film crew from MTV World. In 2015, Jam It! released its first full-length album under its own record label, aimed at promoting the music of Myanmar’s underground scene.
The aim of the movement is to develop a dynamic, community-based scene for underground music, performance and street art in Myanmar – a platform for alternative music and art which empowers young performers and encourages creativity, diversity and engagement.
Jam It! is a small, dynamic, independent initiative that strives to give young Burmese musicians and artists a voice and allow them the opportunity to be part of a creative and empowered new generation in Myanmar.
Contact
Distribution & Artist Management
Gita Gateway
Myanmar Box Office Company Limited
FOUNDERS
Eaiddhi
Son of acclaimed Burmese songwriter Maung Thit Min, Eaiddhi began his own music career with the punk band No U Turn, formed in 2002 with close friend Ye Ngwe Soe. He went on to form successful hardcore outfit Married for the Pain in 2006, and in 2013 joined indie-rock group Side Effect, touring with them in Europe and playing the legendary SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Throughout this time he has continued to produce solo work under the name Abnormal December.
Eaiddhi works as a freelance sound engineer, mixing studio recordings as well as producing sound design for documentary films. In 2012, once again with Ye Ngwe Soe, he founded Jam It! as a platform to promote new underground music in Myanmar.
Ye Ngwe Soe
Ye Ngwe Soe began playing music in 2002 as lead singer and guitarist of punk band No U Turn. After more than 12 years together the band remains one of the biggest punk acts in Myanmar. For a short time in 2012 Ye Ngwe Soe teamed up with d-beat crustcore band Kultureshock, helping them to release their first demo ‘Extreme Punk and Terror’, and has also worked on numerous cross-genre collaborations, most famously with Burmese hip-hop heavyweight J-Me.
Ye Ngwe Soe works at FM Bagan as a producer whilst also running his own ‘Happy Three Friends’ practice room and studio. In 2012, he teamed up with long-time friend and musical collaborator Eaiddhi to found Jam It! as a platform to promote new underground music in Myanmar.