Burma's freedom-fighting comedians
The
Moustache Brothers were Burma's most famous performers until two of
them received seven-year prison sentences for telling jokes critical
of the military junta. Third brother, Lu Maw, talks about his family’s
struggle.
What is the history of the Moustache Brothers?
My grandfather was a comedian. My father was a comedian. We have been
performing for over 30 years, since we were 14 or 15. We used to go
from village to village performing at weddings, in family homes, or
sometimes at pagodas. Always, we would always do an all-night show
of drama, opera, dancing and joking using many different characters,
even marionettes.
How
did you get involved in politics?
When Par Par Lay was a young comedian, during the rule of General
Ne Win, he started making jokes about rising prices, forced labour,
corruption. It wasn’t about politics; he just wanted to joke
about the problems of daily life, but the authorities didn’t
like it. In every town, we would perform for two nights. The police
would watch on the first night and the next day they would come to
us and say, “Par Par Lay, Lu Maw, no jokes like that tonight.”
We would say okay, but come the night we would tell the same jokes.
Why were your brothers arrested?
On the fourth of January 1996, independence day, there was a big celebration
at the house of Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon [Myanmar’s capital].
She invited Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw there to perform, along with some
dancers and musicians. During the night, Par Par Lay told lots of
jokes about hospitals that have no medicine; about schools that should
be free, but you have to pay extra money to the teachers; about corruption
in the military government. Everybody came to watch; even military
intelligence was there filming. At this time, I was at home watching
the family, that’s why I was off the hook. When they came back
to Mandalay, men came to the house at midnight and arrested them.
They were held for interrogation for two months and we weren’t
allowed to see them. Later, they held a trial behind the scenes and
sentenced them to seven years.
Where were they imprisoned?
They were both sent to a labour camp in Kachin State named Kyein Kran
Ka. It was a prison for hard criminals; all the other prisoners said
to them, “you are just comedians, why are you here?” Conditions
were hard and their health became very bad, so after two months they
were separated and sent to different prisons in Katha and Mytkina.
Conditions were still bad. In Mytkina, Par Par Lay was put in solitary
confinement for two months with no window, no light and no toilet.
When they moved them, they didn’t tell us where they had gone;
we had to get the information ourselves. We asked at many jails; we
gave presents to the officials, but no one would say. They would send
us from place to place and make us wait all day in their offices;
we didn’t have any rights. When Par Par Lay’s wife was
able to visit him for the first time, she couldn’t recognise
him. He’d had his head shaved; he had no moustache; he had been
labouring very hard every day so he was very thin. He had to shout
to her, “I’m here! I’m here!”
What
did you do while your brothers were imprisoned?
Par Par Lay’s wife and my wife are dancers; they were both here
with me. Other artists from our family also came to Mandalay. But
without the two other comedians I could not travel. At that time the
guide books started writing about the Moustache Brothers. Tourists
started coming here and we would perform every night. I kept the home
fires burning.
When were they released?
On the 13th July 2001 Par Par Lay rang me from Mytkina and told me
they were being released. Oh, my family was very happy. Before they
arrived, many people came to welcome them: artists, comedians, congressmen,
friends, neighbours. The house was full and on the streets outside
were many more people.
What happened after their release?
On 25th of July some Italian tourists came here who had heard about
their release on television and wanted to see the three comedians
perform together. I asked my brothers, and they said okay. Soon, everybody
had heard that the Moustache Brothers would be performing together
again. Next morning, three policemen came to see Par Par Lay at the
office and told him that he was banned from performing; if he performed,
they would arrest our whole family. Par Par Lay argued. He showed
them the guidebooks that had written about us. He said that I had
been performing for tourists here for six years while he was in jail,
why did they want to stop us now? That night we performed, and military
intelligence came to film us. They came every night in July, but did
no dare to arrest us; they realised we had become too well known.
We have performed every night since.
Are
you able to perform freely now?
Every city, every village all over the country wants to hire us, but
we can only perform in our home. For example, if your brother gets
married and you want to hire a dancing troop, you need to fill an
application a month before. The government will not give anyone permission
to hire us. Just travelling is okay, but wherever Par Par Lay and
Lu Zaw go they are followed. To the fish shop, to the market, everywhere.
But we will never stop the performance, because we are artists.
What is the future for you and your family?
Everyone in my family is an artist. My wife and Par Par Lay’s
wife are dancers. My younger brother is a marionette maker and his
wife is also a dancer. Our children will keep up the tradition for
generations to come. My nephew wants to be a comedian; he practices
telling jokes after school. They are chips off the old block.
