Music offers you happiness, enjoyment and all kinds of emotion to its listeners. Moreover, it reflects part of culture, which overwhelms different societies.

By enjoying music, people get their own ideas and imagination. Because of admiration and powerful feeling that music creates, musicians came to entertain the public in different eras and diverse way of performance. So, let’s watch how doyen Donmin Musician U Sein Khin Lay relate his life and work.

My very first teacher is Sayagyi College Swe. Then, I studied Donmin under Sayagyi U Hla Maung. He played like this.

I loved his style of playing Donmin as well as the melody he created. My next teacher is Sayagyi U Ba Than. He is a marvelous, harp, piano and Myanmar guitar. He could play all kinds of musical instrument fairly well. I would like to play in his way listen!

This Granny belongs to Rawang tribe of Kachin national race. She is already in her eighties. Amazingly the old dame is still working at her handloom. Granny seems to be infatuated with her daily chores as the sun rises.

She works at the handloom with patience and perseverance most of the time, progressing foot-by-foot daily. “Samphone” or the furry cloth which is being woven by the granny is traditional Rawang fur coat

The tenacity and dedication of granny in weaving is unwavering. The base of Rawang traditional cloth is white, adorn with red and black threads in fanciful patterns.

Rawang people presume that the white colour elucidates their simplicity and righteousness. Hence granny's loom is also dominated by white colour.

When I was eleven, I made a Donmin by myself and tried to play. I don't know when Donmin was introduced. I imitated the way of making Donmin from my forefather and attempted to get one similar to theirs. In previous time, it was so called "Byat Saung" I looked into the former triangular shaped piano, which it resembled. This is formed by my imagination. In the past, it was very hard to get strings. Therefore, I had to use wires to fix on my Donmin. If keys were not available, I shaped iron bars on the forge and cut in square, shaped. As I have much interest in it, I made my own Donmin and play since 11 to date, over 70 years.

I use bamboo plectrum, especially of the large bamboo specie Dondrocalamus, giganteus to play Donmin. My late younger brother, the great drum-circle player Sein Bo Tint, made it specially after boiling bamboo and giving it to me. So I value this memorable gift bamboo plectrum and always use it.

Instead of bamboo, if you use plastic plectrums Donmin doesn't sound aesthetic. Please listen to it how it makes a melodious sound. As an encore, I wish to play Ba Ba U Beda's Melody. Listen!

I paid respects to the lord Buddha by getting the chance to play Donmin, which is recorded as the series "Noble Buddha" Volume one and two. Because of it, I have livelong. Again, I want to replay the melodious tune created by Ba Ba U Han Pa. Listen to it. I am going to play.

Although the standard tuning of Donmin can be done by 32 strings, 27 or 25 are also used. More strings are added to resemble the sound of the piano.

In Donmin, tuning is mainly done by internal tuning (piano C) in Myanmar (1 Pauk), next (piano E) (6 Pauk) and then (piano G) (4 Pauk). For instance, tuning starts from the lowest string by keeping, G then C, G, C, E, G and C. I used a tuner similar to those used to tune piano keys.

Again, I want to honour the artistic work of my teacher Alinka Kyawzwa U Ba Maung. By reproducing his performance.

While various styles of music creation are flourishing, the new generation who willingly wants to study Donmin is rare. U Sein Khin lay or Donmin Sein Khin lay has over 60 years of music track. He is still serving for the interest of the state and the public through his creative skill as well as imparting his way of performance and theary to new generation enthusiasts. We honour the great talented Donmin musician U Sein Khin Lay who had brilliant ideas and also wish for emergence of the young who love to play Donmin and try for its life-long popularity in the future.