‘Ez kevok im’ ...a song in Kurdish that has gone beyond borders

Click to read the article in Kurdish / Turkish

In March, a video featuring Egyptian musician Hamza Namira and a group of his friends while singing a song in one of the most well-known squares of Ireland quickly spread on digital platforms, especially on YouTube.

In that video, Namira was singing one of the most famous strans, or songs, of Kurdish, namely "Ez Kevok im" or, to put in in English, "I am a pigeon."

Their video also showed that the ones listening to the song in the square as well as the passers-by were trying to sing along or beating time.

The video quickly spread on social media.

One of the most frequently sung Kurdish songs

Since the second half of 1900s, "Ez Kevok im" has been one of the most frequently performed songs of Kurdish. In fact, it was not only sung by Kurdish musicians but also by several others from other countries.

As the song was also played on the Kurdish section of Radio Baghdad, it has made it more popular, especially in the Arabian peninsula. 

Performed by several Kurdish bands and musicians such as Aynur Doğan, Kamkaran and Şehram Nazerî on a number of international platforms, the song is now also more popular in the world.

As for the source of this song, or rather, the person known to have sung it for the first time, Hesen Cizrawî, or Hesen Cizîrî, seems to be the source.

Born in the district of Cizre in Turkey's Kurdish majority Şırnak province in 1917, Cizrawî lost his life in Zaho in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. For years, he sang songs for the Kurdish section of Radio Baghdad.

It is sung in different dialects of Kurdish

After Cizrawî, dozens of musicians have performed this song in the Kurmanji, Soranî and Hewramî dialects of Kurdish.

When he first sang this song, Hesen Cizrawî could have not possibly known that this song would become so popular. But after him, several others from different parts of the world, especially Arabic musicians, have sung it. Hamza Namira, the Egyptian musician in Ireland, was an example.

Some of the Kurdish musicians who have sung it so far are Mihemed Arif Cizrawî, Hesen Zîrek, Mamlê, Kamkaran, Dilşad Saîd, Şehram Nazerî and Aynur Doğan among many others.

It was also sung in Turkish

The song "Ez Kevok im" is also known in Turkish. However, like several other Kurdish songs that have come to be sung in Turkish, it has long been known and performed with the name of "Hele yar zalim yar."

"Translated" into Turkish by İ. Celal Güzelses, "Hele yar zalim yar" has been so far performed by several musicians, including Celal Güzelses as well as İbrahim Tatlıses, Zekeriya Ünlü and İzzet Altınmeşe.

"Ez Kevok im" is now orally and instrumentally performed in several different music genres from jazz to pop.

According to music researcher Zeynep Yaş, who has spoken to bianet, the song is possibly not a composition by Hesen Cizrawî, but a folk song.

Yaş says that she has come to this conclusion considering that it is sung in several different dialects of Kurdish and with several variations.

Let's take a look at who have sung the song so far:

1- Hesen Cizrawî

2- M. Arif Cizrawî

3- Ezîz Şarox

4- Hesen Zîrek 

5- Mamlê

6- Morteza

7- Kamkaran

8- Şehram Nazerî

9- Dilşad Saîd

10- Ilana Eliya

11- Karapetê Xaço 

12- Abrahamê Karapêt 

13-Hovhannes Gapo

14-Endiryos Bakurî 

15-Mihemed Şêxo

16-Dengbêj (Kimin söylediği bilinmiyor)

17-Hesen Şerîf ve Ardewan Zaxoyî

18-Dana Abdulcebar 

19-Muhammed Riza Ahmedian

20- Dîwan Saz 

21-Ardeşîr Kamkar / Zakaria Yousefi

22-Munir / Omar Bashir 

23-Şehrîbana Kurdî 

24-Parham Haghighi feat Mehdi Baheri

24-Kardeş Türküler / Aynûr Dogan

25-Sepideh

26-Pervîn Çakar

27-Huseyîn Zahawî

28-Babak Radmanash

29-Golbang

30-Leila Forouhar

31-Ahoura

32-DJ Gokhan Bozkurt feat Zafrir Ifrach (dup mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3mj2bABr-0

33-Amir Alkofi (Arab idol programı)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLYI87B0UZw

34-Hamza Namira 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhR97tV6_cA

35-The concert of Arqavaneh Ensemble in St.petersburg (Russia.2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWkxDgMMs3U

36-Zafîre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0BUKDCXWz4

37-Rusan Filiztek / François Aria 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfEWihMpEg8

38-Sana Barjanjî 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2nffClxZf4

39-Lamia Jamel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dANrYkM1nSY

40-Gerdûnî

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ndgoCY9D4

41-Mûrad ve Fatma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtSgn7n2UaU

42-Nupelda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3oicffIRxw

43- Hesen Kanjo 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2f3ahLqbrM

44-Kavparsaz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RXMh8Ccv7Q

45-Yusuf Roman 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_BkQqlQsHw

46-Gani Mirzo 

47-Heyamo & ANGELS. Amsterdam vocal group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLo2YWPj_4s

48-Erdem Altinses 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwf3GjKqQdQ

49-Roni Aran & Negar Ezazi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRuvJv919mA

50-Emîn Erbanî

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPPYb00QZkQ

51-Bedrettin Çoşkun 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg_Ys2Q-7p0

52-Raschid Moussa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q_jeGwhtmM

53-Brusk Zanganeh and Sergio Escalera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EWzNcxzZls

54-Burning Jazz Kurdish Music

55-Jaanan Ensemble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rn14hl-Zdw

56-Salih Dalgın

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N-d8yAF5G8

57-Bruzk Azad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOYTuQznOJ4

58-Kadir Yılmaz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdR1FBOu4vw

59-Abdulkerîm Hezexî 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRElX0BDToU

60-Hozan Efsan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v0lhkgWCik

61-Mehmud Osman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5c3NhbuPl4

62-Young Kurdish  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuNIWkQuS_w

63-Mateos Tsahoridisi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y6DJV62-8Q

64-Komiko Okomira

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9nPT5W7mL8

65-Orquesta Etno Cáhuil

66-Muhammed Riza Mîr Huseyn / Mujgan Marûfî

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVGNL9mOguE

67-M. Arif Cizrawî/ Îsa Berwarî 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnrMyT5koNM

68- Ahura Ritim Topluluğu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42yWFye9gAc

69- Bijan Kamkar

(FD/SD)