Kurdish Song Archive of Radio Yerevan published as a book

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Having published Radio Yerevan's archive of 900 Kurdish songs on digital platforms last month, the German-Kurdish Cultural Institute (Deutsch-Kurdisches-Kulturinstitut) has now published a book.

The work of Kurdish music researcher and artist Cewad Merwanî on the Kurdish song archive of Radio Yerevan is now available as a four-volume book thanks to the efforts of a large team for four years.

CLICK - 900 Kurdish Songs in the Archive of Radio Yerevan Now on Digital Platforms

Prepared based on a particular systematic, the book features the songs in an alphabetical order of the artists who sing them. The book covers not only the notes of the songs, but their lyrics as well.

Compiling the Radio Yerevan's archive of Kurdish songs in black and white, the book groups the songs in two categories, namely "Rhythmic Songs" and "Free Songs." While the first two volumes of the song focus on the former, the third and fourth chapters focus on the latter.

The introduction of the book shares information about Kurdish music, the oral tradition and the dengbêş (Kurdish folk poets) culture. The book also features a dictionary of basic music terms in its introduction.

While the expression "Êrîvan xeber dide. Guhdarên ezîz, naha bibîzin deng û behsên teze" (Or, to put it in English: "Radio Yerevan presents the news. Dear audience, you'll now listen to the news") has become a cliche for the Kurds since 1955, it is now no longer an expression, but has taken the form of a book thanks to this recent publication.

With this book, this archive can now be a main source for musicians as well as musicologists, ethnomusicologists and all other researchers.

In addition to the book, the Institute has also prepared a DVD featuring all 900 songs previously shared online and now published as a book.

The video below shared by the Institute also features the messages of Cewad Merwanî as well as artist Dilovan, musicologist Veysi Varlı, Radio Yerevan artist Dîlbera Wekil, Neuss City Cultural Department Director Harald Müller, teacher Berzan Farqin, poet and writer îşxanê.

(FD/SD)