MOST people know Madalay Thein Zaw as a performance artist specialising in zat pwe or traditional theatre, but Thein Zaw said his time as a traditional dancer and actor has passed, as traditional theatre has fallen into decline.

“The audience has changed, and there are a lot of different places people can go for entertainment now,” Thein Zaw said.

Thein Zaw has responded to changing patterns of interest by branching out into several artistic fields including art, poetry and music.

In the past three years he has founded the Azada art gallery, produced several Buddhist songs and released a VCD called Shwe Pwint Hlwar (Golden floral leaf).

Shwe Pwint Hlwar was different from other VCDs on the market as it combined classic sounding songs with poetry to form a romantic story. The VCD was a hit among consumers despite evidence music lovers prefer modern tunes.

His poems evoked powerful imagery and revealed his passion for love, live and arts.

Phrases such as, “Finding a lover whose heart has been lost is harder than finding a lover who is lost in the world,” proved popular among listeners.

Thein Zaw said he was happy his audience had felt his passion through his words.

“I am glad that the audience can accept this type of music,” he said.

Thein Zaw’s poems were also popular among young artists and musicians.

Hip hop singer Sai Sai Kham Hlaing once said that Thein Zaw’s poems had a profound impact on him and he enjoyed them greatly.

But Thein Zaw said he had initially met with some opposition to his literary attempts.

When he tried to integrate his poetry into his past performances the response was not exactly positive.

“The audiences were such diverse groups of people that it was hard to recite modern poems to them and have everyone appreciate them,” Thein Zaw said.

“Some of them yelled, ‘Where did you copy that from?’ and others just yelled ‘Stop!’,” he said.

Despite these outcries, Thein Zaw was not put off, and in time, his audiences began to appreciate his unusual performance style.

Once Thein Zaw’s poems were accepted by his audiences, he decided to have them published, but few of the copies ever sold.

His collection of poems, Scenery 21, sold so poorly that Thein Zaw decided he should stick to performing.

Thein Zaw described himself as a man caught between traditional and modern performance art and that he found poetry therapeutic during times of stress.

“Back when I was performing a lot, I was getting bored with going over the same routine all the time. It was then that I started writing my poems down and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it,” Thein Zaw said.

Thein Zaw said he hoped that one day he would find an audience that truly understood his poems and his passions. Until then he said he would keep dreaming.

“Maybe instead of poems I should try writing an opera,” he said with a smile.