Myant Myant Aye
Dunn-Lwin was born in 1966 to a Burmese father and an English mother in
Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar). In 1980, at age 13, while working
part-time at a dry cleaner in North London, she was spotted by a friend of Malcolm McLaren. An established architect
of the punk rock movement in England, McLaren changed her name to Annabella Lwin and had her front a new band,
Bow Wow Wow, with former members of Adam & the Ants with the intention of
using the band to promote his fashion line. Lwin shaved her head into a Mohawk,
became a punk icon pictured in many music magazines, and then caused
controversy the following year at age 15 by posing nude for the cover of the
group's first album, See Jungle! See
Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah. City All Over! Go Ape Crazy. After three
albums, the 16-year-old was ousted from the band in September 1983 and she embarked
on a solo career, releasing Fever in
1986, while the other members formed the Chiefs
of Relief.
At the Bowery
Electric tonight, Annabella Lwin was 30 years older than the ingénue that
fronted the punk rocking Bow Wow Wow. As a youth, her vocals swung between adolescent
pouting and a screaming banshee; while she recalled some of those flavors, the new
Lwin showed she was more interested in singing like an adult. Lwin let out a
few girlish squeals and chants singing Bow Wow Wow songs, including “C·30 C·60
C·90 Go", "See Jungle! (Jungle Boy)", "Do You Wanna Hold
Me?" and a cover of a 1965 hit by the Strangeloves,
"I Want Candy." For those songs, her three musicians brought back the
original tom-tom-heavy tribal sound. Lwin grew into a middle-aged Buddhist singer-songwriter,
however, and would not simply replay the songs she sang as a child. Her set
included her newer, softer and often danceable pop songs, some with titles like
“Love, Peace and Harmony” and “Sacred Ground.” She performed a 75-minute set, 17
songs in total, and she performed well, not with a remarkable voice but with a
joyful spirit. The question is how much of an audience can be generated for
this new mix.
Visit Annabella Lwin at www.annabellalwin.com.
