RANGOON — After more than two decades away from his country, Mun Awng was back onstage on Tuesday night, performing in Rangoon for the first time in more than 25 years.
During the four-hour long concert, held on Tuesday in Burma’s former capital, the well-known exiled Kachin singer serenaded a packed audience at the National Theater with a setlist of more than 30 songs.
Mun Awng, 55, rose to fame in the mid-1980s on the back of his protest songs, which called for democracy, peace and an end to Burma’s military rule.
He participated in the 1988 democratic uprising that was subsequently crushed by the Burma Army, and was forced to flee the country alongside thousands of students and dissidents. After being granted asylum in Norway, where he continues to reside, Mun Awng continued to record and release songs calling for democracy in Burma.
The government rejected his visa application in last December, but in January he was granted permission to visit and perform. His return to Burma this year, after nearly three decades away, began with a concert in Mandalay earlier in the month.
