Revisiting Myanmar’s Musical Instruments: From Definitive Stamps to a 2025 Souvenir Sheet

Another unexpected souvenir sheet was issued on 20 November 2025, featuring six stamps depicting traditional musical instruments of Myanmar. A total of 20,000 sheets were produced. The designs are not new; rather, they represent a further reuse of a popular definitive series that has appeared in several forms over the years.

The original stamps were issued between 1998 and 2000 as six different denominations, all bearing the country name “Union of Myanmar.” The issues were as follows:

• Xylophone (K5) – issued on 28 August 1998

• Mon Brass Gong (K10) – issued on 9 October 1998

• Rakhine Auspicious Drum (K20) – issued on 12 February 1999

• Myanmar Harp (K30) – issued on 17 May 1999

• Shan Pot Drum (K50) – issued on 15 November 1999

• Kachin Gong (K100) – issued on 12 February 2000

On 5 March 2014, the Kachin Gong design was reissued with the same denomination (K100), but the country name was updated to “Republic of the Union of Myanmar.”

In 2017, all six designs were again reissued, this time with the country name shortened to “Myanmar” and with new denominations. Two designs—the Myanmar Xylophone (K1000) and Myanmar Harp (K2500)—were issued on 27 July 2017. The remaining four designs followed on 14 September 2017, with the Rakhine Auspicious Drum and Shan Pot Drum denominated at K200, and the Mon Brass Gong and Kachin Gong at K500.

Now, in 2025, all six musical instrument designs have been reissued together as a souvenir sheet, with uniform denominations of K200 for each stamp. The country name remains “Myanmar.”

This latest issue continues Myanmar Post’s practice of revisiting earlier definitive designs, offering collectors another format in which to acquire these long-standing and familiar motifs.