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.

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.

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