In a glance, the shiny blue sky of my childhood
was under the murky shadow of politicized society while I was gradually rooting in the Kurdish tradition, the marginalized culture in one of the diverse West Asian countries, Iran. But music was the alternative to remote the feeling of being sidelined in this not grateful place, to avoid being under the magnetism of politic, a part of routines under this complex situation. Even life has strongly pushed me to step on the edge of distinctions between reality and equivocation, entirely influencing my future artistic view to observe the concrete facts but reflect through my art.
In the past decades, revolutionary waves of modernity and democracy have spread the belief of equality rapidly in the area by mobilized women’s endeavors who devoted their lives for change.
“My Sunset-Land, ROJAVA” is retelling the tale of a heart-sore nomad (a Kamanche) from Kurdistan, where tunes are born in her every brief stop she takes for a nap while passing the unwanted confines of the torn land of the Kurds. Every morning before sunrise settles, Kamanche abandons the spot leaving a newborn Stran (song)…
The song “Viyan” retells the life of a Kurdish Iranian woman, Viyan Peyman (Gülistan Tali Cinganlo), a teacher, a singer, and a storyteller (Dengbêj). Leaving school and all attachments behind, she joined the story of resistance fighters in Syria and lost her life to defend Rojava in 2015.
“Tears of Şingal (Sinjar)” remembers another dark event in the 21st century, the genocide of Yazidis in Iraq, where over 5000 civilians have been massacred leaving hundreds of liberating resistance fighters fell on the ground.
Says the Kurdish poet Abdulla Pashew in his piece
“Unknown soldier”
People bring flowers to the unknown soldier’s tombs.
If tomorrow
One comes to my homeland [Kurdistan]
And asks where the anonymous soldiers’ tombs are?
I would say my dear:
Every riverside
On the steps of every mosques
Near any home, church, or cave entrance
On the big rocks of any mountain
On the trees of any garden of this land
Everywhere on the ground, under this sky
Please bow down
And leave your bucket flower.
Credits:
Releases June 19, 2020
Music & Kamanche: Shahriyar Jamshidi
Recording and mixing: L. Stuart Young
Mastering: Fedge
Recorded at: Revolution Recording
Artwork: Zehra Doğan
Photographer: Jef Rabillon
Video: HÎra Çavken & Mitchell Fillion
Layout: Roxana Khoshravesh