{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{family name hatnote|lang=Burmese|Yan Yan Chan}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Yan Yan Chan | native_name = ရန်ရန်ချမ်း | native_name_lang = my | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1979|12|05|df=y}} | image = Yan Yan Chan.jpg | image_size = | caption = Yan Yan Chan performing in a concert in 2019 | birth_place = Yangon, Myanmar | genre = *hip hop | occupation = Singer-songwriter, rapper, pro-democracy activist | years_active = 2000–present | current_member_of = Acid }} '''Yan Yan Chan''' ({{langx|my|ရန်ရန်ချမ်း}}, {{IPA|my|jàɰ̃ jàɰ̃ tɕʰáɰ̃|pron}}; born 5 December 1979) is a Burmese hip hop singer, pioneer of Burmese hip hop, and pro-democracy activist. He is a founding member of Acid, Burma's first hip hop group. He is also one of the coaches from The Voice Myanmar, a reality television singing competition.<ref name="Irrawaddy">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=18128 |title=Another Birthday behind Bars |author=Alex Elgee |date=26 March 2010 |magazine=The Irrawaddy |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Yan Yan Chan was born on 5 December 1979 in Yangon, Myanmar to parents Thant Zin and his wife Khin Mu. He is the elder of two children, having a younger sister Suzan Nway.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} He attended high school at Basic Education High School No. 6 Botataung. {{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

=="Beginning"== [[File: Singer Yan Yan Chan.jpg|thumb|Yan Yan Chan performing at a concert in Yangon]] In 2000, Acid released Burma's first hip-hop album. Despite predictions of failure by many in the Burmese music industry, the album, ''Beginning'', remained in the number one position of the Burmese charts for more than two months.<ref name="Irrawaddy"/> A Democratic Voice of Burma reporter described his music as blending a "combative, angry style with indigenous poeticism".<ref name="DVB">{{cite web |url=http://www.dvb.no/uncategorized/fresh-blood-for-a-new-decade-2/2845 |title=Fresh blood for a new decade |author=Joseph Allchin |date=30 December 2009 |publisher=Democratic Voice of Burma |access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref> The band's repertoire has been said to contain many "thinly veiled attacks on the regime".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/burma,,junta-imprisons-pop-star,25495 |title=Junta imprisons Yan Yan Chan |date=18 April 2008 |publisher=thefirstpost.co.uk |access-date=8 May 2011 |archive-date=24 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124224400/http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/burma,,junta-imprisons-pop-star,25495 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''The Independent'' stated that while the band "focused on the mundane, their lyrics inevitably touched on the hardships of life in Burma, drawing them into dangerous territory."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burma-jails-comedian-for-45-years-1029913.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burma-jails-comedian-for-45-years-1029913.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Burma jails comedian for 45 years |date=22 November 2008 |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=12 May 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Political activism== Following the 2007 uprising against the State Peace and Development Council, Burma's military rulers, Yan Yan Chan's bandmate Phyo Zeya Thaw helped found the pro-democracy youth movement Generation Wave.<ref name="Irrawaddy"/> Though not an original founder, Yan Yan Chan became involved in the group as well.<ref name="Mizzima">{{cite news |url=http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1512-detained-hip-hop-singer-yan-yan-chan-released.html |title=Detained Hip Hop singer Yan Yan Chan released |author=Than Htike Oo |date=7 January 2009 |work=Mizzima News |access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref> Generation Wave used graffiti and pamphlets to spread messages opposing the SPDC.<ref name="Irrawaddy"/> and distributed bumper stickers reading "Change New Government" to apply to cars carrying "CNG" stickers (originally for "compressed natural gas").<ref name="Irrawaddy"/> The group also circulated anti-government films, including ''Rambo'',<ref name="AAPP">{{cite web |url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:elD48Vpaw3kJ:www.fbppn.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/Zayar_Thaw_updated_29June09.pdf+Zayar+thaw+AAPP&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShKj5EAUwNvhS8TgWkCItbnbL7neJnxI1MUDU0gQCvV349q_xJBEufb2nsMGJ74qTlH9dsbtrpS_-sAI3Sk5fQmxD4HkmSywBoSDMEEK6t5wnyLClFWq5xp_Cj49Ire2b9w5HJ7&sig=AHIEtbShPsRNV_Xy7Un_jusqrH3bX2j6rw |title=AAPP Case No. 0062 |publisher=Assistance Association for Political Prisoners |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> in which the titular character battles Tatmadaw (Burmese military) soldiers in Karen State.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/Rambo-Draws-World-Attention-to-Forgotten-Crisis-in-Burma |title=Rambo Draws World's Attention to Forgotten Crisis in Burma |date=12 February 2008 |publisher=Burma Campaign UK |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref> The film had been banned by the government for portraying the SPDC and its soldiers in a negative light.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1579082/Banned-Rambo-film-hot-property-in-Burma.html |title=Banned Rambo film hot property in Burma |author=Thomas Bell |date=18 February 2008|newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref>

In March 2008, several Generation Wave members were arrested for their anti-government activities, including Phyo Zeya Thaw, who was charged with membership in an illegal organization and possession of foreign currency.<ref name="AI">{{cite web |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/pdf/ZayarThawCaseSheet.pdf |title=MYANMAR: Hip-Hop Artist and Student Activist Jailed for Peaceful Protest |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=8 May 2011 |archive-date=29 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429092801/http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/pdf/ZayarThawCaseSheet.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 18 April, Yan Yan Chan was also arrested in the Upper Burma town of Monywa, reportedly along with his longtime girlfriend Chilli.<ref name="Mizzima"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ashinmettacara.org/2008/04/yan-yan-chan-arrested.html |title=Yan Yan Chan Arrested |author=Ashin Mettacara |date=18 April 2008 |publisher=Ashinmettacara.org |access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref> Reporters Without Borders speculated that Yan Yan Chan was arrested due to "lyrics in some of his songs referring to the lack of press freedom".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arabia.reporters-sans-frontieres.org/article.php3?id_article=26694 |title=Press forbidden to refer to campaign for a No vote in referendum on new constitution |date=24 April 2008 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |access-date=12 May 2011}}</ref> After nearly a year's detention, he was released without charges on 7 January 2009.<ref name="Mizzima"/>

Following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Yan Yan Chan was active in the anti-coup movement both in person at rallies and through social media. Denouncing the military coup, he has taken part in protests since February. He joined the "We Want Justice" three-finger salute movement. The movement was launched on social media, and many celebrities have joined the movement.<ref>{{cite news |title=တရားမျှတမှု We Want Justice ကန်ပိန်းတွင် အနုပညာရှင်များပါဝင် ဆန္ဒထုတ်ဖော် (ဓာတ်ပုံ) |url=https://burmese.dvb.no/archives/439052 |work=DVB |date=4 February 2021 |language=my}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=ရုပ်ရှင်၊ ဂီတ၊ စာပေ၊ သဘင်အနုပညာရှင်များက We Want Justice လက်သုံးချောင်းထောင်ပြီး လှုပ်ရှားမှုတွင်ပါဝင် |url=https://news-eleven.com/article/204128 |work=Eleven Media Group |date=6 February 2021 |language=my}}</ref>

On 4 April 2021, warrants for his arrest were issued under section 505 (a) of the penal code by the State Administration Council for speaking out against the military coup. Along with several other celebrities, he was charged with calling for participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and damaging the state's ability to govern, with supporting the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and with generally inciting the people to disturb the peace and stability of the nation.<ref>{{cite news |title=လူမှုကွန်ရက်အား အသုံးပြု၍ CDM လှုပ်ရှားမှုတွင် ပါဝင်စေရန် လှုံ့ဆော်သည်ဟုဆိုကာ အနုပညာရှင်များ အပါအဝင် ၂၀ ဦးအား ပုဒ်မ၅၀၅(က) ဖြင့် ထပ်မံအမှုဖွင့်ကြောင်း သတင်းထုတ်ပြန် |url=https://news-eleven.com/article/206533 |work=Eleven Media Group |date=4 April 2021 |language=my}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=အာဏာသိမ်းရက်ပေါင်း ၆၀ ကျော်အတွင်း နိုင်ငံတဝန်း ပစ်ခတ် ဖြိုခွဲမှုတွေကြောင့် သေဆုံးသူ ၅၇၀ ‌ထိရှိလာ |url=https://www.bbc.com/burmese/56652464 |work=BBC News |date=6 April 2021 |language=my}}</ref>

==Family== In March 2010, Yan Yan Chan and Chilli announced their intention to wed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.myanmarcelebrity.com/2010/03/hip-hop-singer-yan-yan-chan-to-get.html |title=Hip Hop Singer, Yan Yan Chan To get Married|date=27 March 2010 |publisher=myanmarcelebrity.com |access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref> On 4 April, they got married in a ceremony at the Traders Hotel in Yangon. Chilli gave birth to their first son in the same year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shwedarling.com/blog/2010/04/18/myanmar-celebrity-wedding-yan-yan-chan-chillis-wedding-at-the-traders-hotel/ |title=Myanmar Celebrity Wedding: Yan Yan Chan & Chilli's Wedding at the Traders Hotel |date=4 April 2010|publisher=shwedarling.com |access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|33em}}

==External links== *{{Facebook|yan.chan.5454021}}

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Category:Burmese democracy activists Category:Burmese hip-hop musicians Category:21st-century Burmese male singers Category:Musicians from Yangon Category:Living people Category:1979 births