Sai Sai Kham Hlaing

Sai Sai Kham Hlaing , also Sai Sai Kham Leng; born 10 April 1979) is a well-known Burmese singer-songwriter, model, novelist, and actor of ethnic Shan descent. He is best known for his hip hop music.

Sai Sai Kham Leng was born on 10 April 1979 in Taunggyi to Cho Cho San Tun and Kham Hlaing of an ethnic Shan aristocratic family. His great-grandfather Sao San Tun, Saopha of Mongpawng, was a signatory to the 1947 Panglong Agreement that was the basis for the formation of modern Myanmar, and one of nine senior government officials assassinated on 19 July 1947.  The day of the assassination is commemorated each year as the Martyrs’ Day in Myanmar. The hospital he was delivered in was his great-grandfather’s namesake—the Sao San Tun Hospital. He is the eldest son and has two younger sisters and a younger brother. Soon after he was born, his parents moved to nearby Aungban for two years before moving back to Taunggyi. His parents divorced when he was got to 4th standard. He was living in two houses soon after the divorce but ended up with his father. He would not see his mother for another six years. He did not recognize his own mother when they met again in Yangon.

Sai Sai attributes his interest in music to his father. He grew up listening to songs by Sai Htee Saing and Aung Yin that his father listened to on a “small mono cassette player“. Sai Htee Saing and his father were friends. But it was after his parents’ divorce that Sai Sai earnestly took up music. His father bought him a guitar at 5th standard, and he learned to play it by 6th standard. Sai Sai became a judo player at 8th standard. He won district level competitions in high school, and even competed in national youth competitions in Yangon.

Sai Sai came to Yangon and enrolled in Dagon University as an English major. He received his bachelor’s degree in English from Dagon University and a graduate diploma in English from the University of Foreign Languages, Yangon. His mother lives in Australia and his father died in 2006.

Like most children of well-to-do families in Myanmar, Sai Sai entered the Myanmar entertainment industry through connections and self-financing. At Yangon, Sai Sai first tried to modeling but could not get any jobs. He then tried a role in a direct-to-video movie that he and four other friends self-financed in 2000. In the same year, he launched his debut album Chocolate Yaung Yayge Einmet (Chocolate-Colored Ice Dreams). The followed-up album Thangegyin Mya Zwa (Graduation: Friends Forever) released in 2001 made him a household name.

Personal

Sai Sai is still single, and lives in Yangon. In a May 2009 interview with People Magazine Myanmar, he expressed that he was unsure about marriage as he comes from a “broken family”.

He is a Theravada Buddhist.

Discography

Studio Albums

• Chocolate Yaung Yayge Einmet (Chocolate-Colored Icy Dreams) (2000)
• Thangegyin Mya Zwa (Friends) (2001)
• February Mhattan (February Diary) (2003)
• Sai Sai Live Show (2004)
• Sai Sai Hu Khaw Thi (It is Called Sai Sai) (2005)
• Happy Sai Sai Birthday (2007)
• Ever Gawli(Always Vagrant) (2009)
• Date Dade Kye’ (2012)

Collaborative albums

• Pyan Pyaw Pya Bo Tawtaw Khet Leit Me (Would Be Quite Difficult to Argue) (2002)
• Meinma (Woman) (2002)
• A-Chit Mya Zwa A Twet (For All My Love) (2002)
• Bawa Bawa(Life ) (2003)
• Natthami Ponbyin(Angel’s Story) (2004)
• Rock & Rap Live Show (2006)
• A-Lwan Ye Nya (Night of Yearning/Missing) (2006)
• A Yin Lo Seit Ma Cha Lo Ba Shin (Because I Can’t Trust Anymore Like Before) (2006)
• Angel (2006)
• 10 Seconds (2007)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Thida Win (2010-03-05). “Sai Sai Kham Hlaing’s Youth” (in Burmese). Bi-Weekly Eleven Journal (Weekly Eleven Media): 34.
2. ^ Tin Naing Toe (18 July 2010). “Brief Biographies of the Martyrs” (in Burmese). Bi-Weekly Eleven (Weekly Eleven Publishing Group).
3. ^ ^{a b} Hnin Ei Ei Aung (May 2009). “25 Random Facts about Sai Sai” (in Burmese). People Magazine Myanmar.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_Sai_Kham_Leng