Kurdish music explained

Kurdish music refers to music performed in the Kurdish languages and Zaza-Gorani languages.^{[1] [2]} The earliest study of Kurdish music was initiated by the renowned Armenian priest and composer Komitas in 1903,^[3] when he published his work "Chansons kurdes transcrites par le pere Komitas" which consisted of twelve Kurdish melodies which he had collected.^[4] The Armenian Karapetê Xaço also preserved many traditional Kurdish melodies throughout the 20th century by recording and performing them.^[5] In 1909, Scholar Isya Joseph published the work "Yezidi works" in which he documented the musical practice of the Yazidis including the role of the musician-like qewal figures and the instruments used by the minority.^[6]

Kurdish music appeared in phonographs in the late 1920s, when music companies in Baghdad began recording songs performed by Kurdish artists.^[7]

Despite being secondary to vocals, Kurds use many instruments in traditional music.^[8] Musical instruments include the tembûr (see kurdish tanbur), bağlama, qernête, daf, duduk, kaval, long flute (şimşal),^[9] kemenche,^[10] oboe (zirne) and drum (dahol).^[11]

Definition

See also: Siyaw Chemane. Traditional Kurdish music is culturally distinct from Arabic, Armenian and Turkish music,^[12] and mostly composed by people who remained anonymous.^[13] Thematically, the music were of melancholic and elegiac character, but has since then incorporated more upbeat and joyous melodies.^[14]

Kurdish folklore consists of three genres: the storytellers (çîrokbêj), bards (dengbêj) and popular singers (stranbêj).^[15]

Moreover, there are religious-themed songs (lawje)^[16] seasonal musical topics, for example "payizok" that are songs about the return to the summer pastures performed in autumn.^[17] Kurdish improvisations are called teqsîm.^[18]

Prohibition

In Iraq, tolerance for Kurdish music ceased with the Saddam regime (1979–2003) which put in place restrictions against Kurdish culture.^[19] Between 1982 and 1991 the performance and recording of songs in Kurdish was also banned in Turkey.

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.
• Encyclopedia: Hassanpour . A . BAYT. Encyclopædia Iranica . 2016-04-11., "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."

External links

• Encyclopedia: Kolāhpizah. Mahmud . Bayt Mahmud Kolāhpizah. Encyclopædia Iranica . 2016-04-11. (Kurdish music sample)

Notes and References

1. Robert F. Reigle . A brief history of Kurdish music recordings in Turkey . Hellenic Journal of Music Education, and Culture . 2013 . 4 . 2 . 1792-2518.
2. News: Lewkowitz . Joshua . Who are the heroes, hustlers and innovators of Kurdish wedding music? . 18 July 2019 . Al-Monitor . 30 May 2019 . en.
3. Book: Sylvia Angelique Alajaji . Music and the Armenian diaspora : searching for home in exile . 2015 . . 978-0253017765 . 168.
4. Web site: Komitas . Komitas . Mélodies kurdes recueillies par Archimandrite Comitas . 18 July 2019 . hy . 1903.
5. Book: Salih Kevirbirı̂ . Karapetê Xaço: bir çiǧliǧin yüzyili . 2002 . Sı̂ Yayınları . tr.
6. Mohammad Ali Merati . Les formes fondamentales de la musique kurde d'Iran et d'Irak : hore, siâw-çamane, danses, maqâm . Milieux cultures et sociétés du passé et du présent . 2015 . 19 July 2019 . L'Université Paris Nanterre . fr.
7. Book: Tony Langlois . Non-Western Popular Music . 2011 . . Ashgate . 9780754629849.
8. Book: World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Dorian. Frederick. Duane. Orla. McConnachie. James. 1999. Rough Guides. 9781858286358. 249. en.
9. Book: Alak K. Ardalan . The Black Desert . 2015 . 9781504939911.
10. Book: Eliot Bates . Digital Tradition: Arrangement and Labor in Istanbul's Recording Studio Culture . 2016 . 9780190215767 . 289.
11. Book: Wendelmoet Hamelink . The Sung Home. Narrative, Morality, and the Kurdish Nation . 2016 . 164.
12. Book: Abdul Mabud Khan . Encyclopaedia of the world Muslims: tribes, castes and communities, 2 . 2001 . Abdul Mabud Khan . . 8187746084 . 799.
13. Book: Lokman I. Meho, Kelly L. Maglaughlin . Kurdish Culture and Society: An Annotated Bibliography . 2001 . 9780313315435 . 218 .
14. Book: April Fast . Iraq: The Culture . 2005 . Crabtree Publishing Company . 9780778793205 . 17 .
15. Book: B. Schott's Söhne . Monde de la Musique, 21 . 1979 . 20 . fr.
16. Book: Sebastian Maisel . The Kurds: An Encyclopedia of Life, Culture, and Society . 2018 . 9781440842573 . 205.
17. Book: Philip G. Kreyenbroek . Oral Literature of Iranian Languages: Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, Ossetic, Persian and Tajik . 2010 . 9780857732651.
18. Book: Fabian Richter . Identität, Ethnizität und Nationalismus in Kurdistan . 328 . de, en.
19. Book: Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East. Anthony Gorman, Andrew Newman. Jamie. Sokes. 393.