AP

Posted: 2007-11-04 09:19:38

LONDON (AP) – A group of prominent British women has raised funds to send a piano to detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a British newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sunday Times said the group, led by actress Maureen Lipman, hoped to replace the broken piano currently owned by the music-loving democracy advocate, who has been under house arrest for years.

“It just seemed a good and nice idea,” Lipman was quoted as saying.

Visitors have reported that Suu Kyi helped pass the time in detention by playing works by Bach and other composers. The Sunday Times said her piano had broken down through heavy use in Myanmar’s tropical climate.

The newspaper said Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox, film producer Norma Heyman and arts fundraiser Joyce Hytner were among supporters of the plan. It said the group had already raised money for the piano, but had not yet bought one or settled on a way to ship the instrument to Myanmar.

Lipman could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won 1990 elections in Myanmar, also known as Burma, but the ruling military junta refused to hand over power. Suu Kyi, 62, has spent about 12 of the past 18 years in detention without trial. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.