[1][2] Mahāgīta songs continue to be played during Buddhist rituals, weddings, and public festivals, and performers frequently appear on state-run television shows.
[1] Kyo, bwe, and thachingan songs are considered to constitute the oldest parts of the Mahāgīta repertoire, serving as the main court music before the Konbaung dynasty.
[6] Ledwethankhat songs constitute a minor genre, and are characteristically sharp and active, with fast, short rhythms.
[6] From the 1910s to the 1950s, with the advent of British colonial rule in Burma, a new genre of traditional music, variously called khit haung (ခေတ်ဟောင်း; lit.
[8] However, this approach has been limited by the Western notation system, which cannot capture the flexibility of Burmese rhythm, the two-part style, and a loose floating rhythmic organisation, including free-style embellishments, all of which distinguish traditional Burmese music from other musical traditions in the region (e.g., Thailand, China, India).
[6] Mahāgīta songs are sung by a vocalist who controls the metric cycle by playing a bell (စည်, si) and clappers (ဝါး, wa).
[4] The vocal performances are accompanied by a chamber music ensemble, which includes the following instruments: The tayaw and sandaya are historically recent additions dating to the Konbaung dynasty (mid-to-late 1800s).
Burmese musicians use a "technique of interlocked fingering with both hands extending a single melodic line allowed for agogic embellishment, fleeting grace notes in syncopated spirals around a steady underlying beat found in the bell and clapper time keepers.
[15][14] The Burmese style is characterised by prominent use of virtuosity and ornamentation, with alternating sections of free and fixed, but flexible, rhythm.
[16] The national anthology, known as Naingngandaw Mu Mahagita (နိုင်ငံတော်မူမဟာဂီတ) includes a selection of 169 songs, standardised and published in three volumes between 1954 and 1961 by Burmese Ministry of Culture.
[11] The National University of Arts and Culture, Yangon uses the Naingngandaw Mu Mahagita as the official anthology for teaching Burmese classical music.