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Kurdish music

Kurdish music (, or مۆسیقای کوردی) refers to music performed in the Kurdish languages and Zaza-Gorani languages. The earliest study of Kurdish music was initiated by the renowned Armenian priest and

Definition#

Traditional Kurdish music is culturally distinct from Arabic, Armenian and Turkish music, and mostly composed by people who remained anonymous. Thematically, the music were of melancholic and elegiac character, but has since then incorporated more upbeat and joyous melodies. Kurdish folklore consists of three genres: the storytellers (çîrokbêj), bards (dengbêj) and popular singers (stranbêj). Moreover, there are religious-themed songs (lawje) seasonal musical topics, for example “payizok” that are songs about the return to the summer pastures performed in autumn. Kurdish improvisations are called teqsîm.

Prohibition#

In Iraq, tolerance for Kurdish music ceased with the Saddam regime (1979–2003) which put in place restrictions against Kurdish culture. Between 1982 and 1991 the performance and recording of songs in Kurdish was also banned in Turkey.

See also#

  • Kurdish dance
  • Kurdish classical music
  • Kurdish folk music

Further reading#

  • Skalla, Eva and Jemima Amiri. “Songs of the Stateless”. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 378–384. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
  • Dr. D. Christensen, Tanzlieder der Hakkari-Kurden, Eine material-kritisch Studie, in Jahrbuch für musikalische Volks-und Völker-Künde, Berlin i, pp. 11–47, 1963.
  • Edith Gerson-Kiwi, The Music of Kurdistan Jews. A synopsis of their musical styles, in Yuval, Studies of the Jewish Music Research Centre, ii, Jerusalem 1971.
  • Vartabed Comitas, Quelques spécimens des mélodies kurdes, in Recueil d’Emine, Moscow 1904, and re-edited in Erivan in 1959.
  • , “BAYT, a genre of Kurdish folk art, an orally transmitted story which is either entirely sung or is a combination of sung verse and spoken prose.”
  • (Kurdish music sample)