Kurdish diva Pervin Chakar digs into Mesopotamian heritage

Kurdish diva Pervin Chakar digs into Mesopotamian heritage

kurdsatnews

Apr 7, 2022

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Her new album, “Breath of Nahrain,” is a case in point. It is a compilation of the rich melodies of Mesopotamia — the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that is often mentioned to as ‘the cradle of civilization,’ but is now known as a region of conflict and instability.

The five tracks on the album are sung in Kurdish, Kurmanci, Zazaki, Armenian and Assyrian — covering Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Armenia; a reflection of the area’s diverse history and culture. The album’s recently released first single, the Kurdish-language “Heyran Jaro,” for example, is based on a love song familiar to the region’s nomadic tribes.

The album’s recently released first single, the Kurdish-language “Heyran Jaro,” is based on a love song familiar to the region’s nomadic tribes.

“The song is about two lovers who cannot be together,” Chakar said. “It resembles the big, mad scene — a 15-minute rollercoaster ride of very extravagant music — in Donizetti’s ‘Lucia di Lammermoor.’”

“Heyran Jaro” is not an obvious choice for a single. But, as Chakar explained: “I couldn’t interrupt the lyrics of this love story. I wanted to abide by its spirit,” she said.

It was no easy task for Chakar to put the album together. She was meticulous in her approach to ensuring she was singing these ancient languages properly, and in adapting the folk-song source material into operatic form.

But her insistence on singing in Kurdish has cost her in the past, as it does with most singers who sing in Kurdish. Chakar’s several concerts are being cancelled in Turkey and harsh criticism coming from conservative circles. Still, Chakar felt it was too important a record to be dissuaded from releasing it.

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فەرهەنگی1 year ago

Hisham Zaman unveils his ambitious third feature A Happy Day in Toronto

Regarded as one of Norway’s leading auteur directors, Zaman is best known for his films exploring themes related to migration, identity and belonging. His previous features Before Snowfall (2013) and Letter to the King (2014) both won the prestigious Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Gothenburg International Film Festival.

Zaman’s latest film is one of his boldest and most artistically ambitious yet. Set in a refugee centre absurdly located in remote northern Norway, “a Happy Day” is a fictional story about a trio of teenage boys who are waiting to be sent out of the country on their 18^th birthdays. Determined to stay together, the three friends come up with a plan to escape. But when a troubled young girl shows up at the center and falls in love with one of the guys, the trio’s escape plan – and their friendship – are suddenly thrown into jeopardy.

A Happy Day builds on several of Zaman’s well-known strengths, with its quirky and complex characters and use of black humour to approach a serious political issue. He once again opts for a leading cast composed entirely of non-professional actors (Salah Qadi, Ravand Ali Taha, Mohammed Salah, Sarah Aman Mentzoni), complemented by a supporting cast featuring several well-known names from the Norwegian film and TV industry. These include Stig Frode Henriksen, reality TV star Hilde Skovdahl, and actress Thea Sofie Loch Næss, who played in the Netflix production ‘The Last Kingdom’ and will star as Leonard Cohen’s girlfriend in the upcoming Norwegian-Canadian TV series ‘So Long, Marianne.’

At the same time, Zaman experiments with several new elements in A HAPPY DAY. It is one of his most visually remarkable films to date, shot amidst the vast, snow-covered landscapes of northern Norway. These tableau images are sprinkled with touches of poetic surrealism, through the use of magical, dreamlike sequences which blur the boundaries between imagination and reality.

The film tackles a hotly debated topic in Norwegian refugee policy, and one which is rarely explored on the big screen in Norway. Yet, as always, Zaman approaches the subject unconventionally, steering clear of political dogmatism and focusing instead on human themes such as identity, love, friendship, hope, dignity, and the fleetingness of life. Through the bizarre situations that his characters encounter, Zaman uses subtle humour to challenge his audiences to reflect on the way that policies impact people. The result is a film that is at once comically absurd, tragic, and heartwarming.

A HAPPY DAY is the first of Zaman’s feature films to be produced through his company Snowfall Cinema, established in 2015. He is joined by associate producer Turid Øversveen, a veteran producer in the Norwegian film industry known for Out Stealing Horses (2019) and Babycall (2011). The film is also an international co-production with one of Scandinavia’s leading production companies, Zentropa (Denmark) as well as Rein Film (Norway), which focuses on films made in the Barents region. The film received support from both the Norwegian and Danish Film Institutes, Eurimages, Nordic Film & TV Fund, Filmfond Nord, FilmCamp and others.

The Toronto International Film Festival is considered one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, drawing audiences of nearly 500,000 people every year. A HAPPY DAY will be featured as part of the festival’s newly revamped Centrepiece programme, which is “a showcase for acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.”

The film will premiere in Norwegian cinemas in Autumn 2023.

فەرهەنگی1 year ago

Thousands of Kurds to gather in place where the treaty that divided Kurds was signed a century ago

President of the Kurdistan Genocide Writers Union Salar Mahmoud told KurdSat that to reject the 100-year oppression of the Kurds and Kurdistan in general 100,000 Kurds and Kurd sympathizer are expected to gather in front of the hall where the treaty was signed on July 24, 1923.

There are obstacles to the national issue, but Kurds and foreign friends and representatives of Kurdish political and civil organizations from all over the world have left for this important turning point and participation in the Centennial Conference of Lausanne, which starts tomorrow and will continue in the following days, Mahmoud added.

Greater Kurdistan was united under the Ottoman Empire but was later divided among Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran after Lausanne Treaty in 1923 that made Kurds a minority in all of these states.

فەرهەنگی1 year ago

Tens of thousands of pilgrims headed to Mecca for farewell pilgrimage

This year, more than 1.8 million pilgrims from 160 countries performed the obligatory Hajj in hot weather, one of the five pillars of Islam. Pilgrims completed their third day of stoning in Mina on Friday and left for Mecca.

By making a farewell turn and the pilgrims prepare to return to their countries.

240 pilgrims have died and thousands of others have suffered from heat waves during the Hajj pilgrimage. However, this year were no incidents of compression or mass deaths of pilgrims was recorded.

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فەرهەنگی1 year ago

UK Kurds buy church, turn it into mosque

The Kurdish community in Birmingham heard of a prominent Birmingham Church offered for sale in an auction and announced a campaign to collect one million pounds, roughly $1.2 million US, UK-based Journalist Said Hawrami told KurdSat English.

"A charity bank account was opened for the campaign and people transferred their donations to the account," Hawrami noted.

Kurdish preachers living in Birmingham announced the campaign to collect funds to buy the church on December 22, 2023. Preacher Kuri Pak said in a campaign promotion video that it is every Muslim's duty to donate to buy the church. Pak is a well-known Kurdish Islamic preacher whose videos gather thousands of views.

"Many people offered their vehicles to the campaign; one offered a $25,000 US car to the campaign," Hawrami said regarding how the money was raised.

According to Hawrami, the [Birmingham] municipality at times decommissions temples and sets a price on them for sale, and the property is open for anyone to buy, but this one was placed in an auction, and the Kurds offered the highest bid, at a million British pounds and acquired the church.

In 2021, the same group of preachers helped purchase a bar, something Islam prohibits, and turned it into a Church. "Thank god we are going to turn this 3200 square meter lot into a mosque, Preacher Pak said in a video message published on Facebook.

"The Birmingham Muslims need a mosque, and we want to turn this church into a mosque," the preacher says in the promotion video for the campaign to collect funds.

There are substantial Kurdish communities across Europe and the rest of the world as repressive regimes where the Kurds lived in the 1980s, forced many Kurds to migrate and settle in countries such as the UK.

Although there are no official figures on the number of Birmingham Kurds, our numbers suggest that over tens of thousands of Kurds are in the UK province alone.

فەرهەنگی2 years ago

A Kurdish rug is more than just a piece of furniture, it's a philosophy

It often results in a rug with deeply saturated jewel tones and creative and captivating designs. Kurdish Bijar rug designs usually showcase a traditional flower garden design.

Bijar could be a variation of Bajar, or Bazher, Kurdish for city. Among other suggested meanings for bijar are bid-zar, land of willow tree.

Bidjar pieces typically utilize a central medallion detailed by flowers, birds, or caterpillars, with arrowed or stylized ends on the central motif. Bijar rugs are often called the "Iron Rugs of Iran" for their thickness and durability.

In this carpet, the ornate medallion incorporates intricate flower and vine motifs detailed in cream, red, pink, brown, and green wool. Blue, orange, and cream vases detail the field within the central medallion.

Some unique features and symbolism make this piece of extraordinary

Traditionally, the foreground of this carpet would be blue, representing the water pond inside the flower garden. In this carpet, the weaver chose to utilize red, which in Kurdish textiles represents love.

In the four corners of the field, fish in cream and green cleverly disguise themselves as long-leaf designs. Fish, in Kurdish rugs, symbolize life and water and the transcendence between life in different landscapes. The green fern shapes on either side of the medallion are peacocks with their tails aligned symmetrically to blend into the garden design.

Kurdish sects consider these peacocks sacred, symbolize divine protection, and add tranquility to the carpet's design. Incorporating these motifs within the additional design elements replicates the attempts of animals to camouflage themselves into their surroundings.

It is difficult to find a Kurdish household without rugs in every room. Traditionally they were considered a sign of wealth and well-being and now serve as an obvious sign to decorate one's floor.

The main drive for rug prevalence is the Kurdish home architecture. Kurdish houses are not elevated off the ground, absorbing most of the heat and cold emitted from the ground, and that is when the rugs come in, serving as a non-conductor between the inhabitants and the floor, especially in the winter, as rugs help them to avoid the cold.

Although there is a large market for rugs and carpets in the Kurdistan region, its domestic production has almost become obsolete, as imports from Iran and other supplies make its domestic variants uncompetitive.

A Bijar rug with detailed decorations