Whilst in Mandalay I bumped into my French-Canadain friend, Malik, one evening and he suggested we go to see the Moustache Brothers show. I was planning on seeing them during my stay in Myanmars 2nd city, so we jumped on a tri-shaw and away we went.
The Moustache Brothers are very famous in Burma, not jst for being comedians/performers with very, very long moustaches, but for being a voice of the people. They are blacklisted from playing (all) outdoor events by the Burmese government. They get around this by playing in their own home (and doing the show in English).
In 1996 2/3rds of the trio, Par par Lay and cousin Lu Zaw, were sentanced to 7 years hard labour for making politically sensitive jokes about a general (the leader of the military dictatotship) at an independence day show. When meeting Lu Maw, Par Par Lays brother and 3rd member of the team, he told us that him and his brother drew straws on who was going to make the joke in the show that night (as they knew it was likely to end in a prison sentance). Brother and cousin spent 5 years in jail (the sentance was reduced due to international pressure) with murderers, rapists, armed robbers etc, for making a joke about a man who illegally seized power to their country and keeps the democratically elected leader under house arrest!
These are very brave guys! They still carry on cracking the same jokes in their shows, except now they are limited to performing in English. This is for 2 main reasons, a) if anyone (from the government) is watching they are less likely to understand and b) they cater mainly for tourists.
Tourists keep them going. They rely heavily upon international visitors and not just financially. If tourists stopped turning up, it is much more likely that they would end up back "in the slammer" (prison) as Lu Maw puts it. So if you are heading to Myanmar please go and see them. They are really nice people and the show is great too. They perform every night without fail, so even if you are passing through Mandalay you can rock up and see them.
These guys are heroes. They are a voice of the Burmese people, who have suffered at the hands of the government already (and could do so easily again), who risk everything they have to stand up for what they believe in.
You can see photos of these brave men in my pictures.
or more info, go to the following links .......
www.moustachebrothers.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5092576.stm (THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE - PLEASE READ).
http://www.worldsurface.com/browse/entry.asp?entryid=1582
or just type in Moustache brothers in google.
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