“Undoubtedly, this is the first time an academic research in this way about Kurdish Kurmanji music has been done in a European university. It also discusses merging Kurdish music with the neighbors’,” the renowned violinist told Rudaw.
“Also, I conducted research on many types of Govand and Dilan (Traditional Kurdish dances),” Said added.
The composer investigated the rhythms and melodies of the dances, and how the special characteristics of Kurmanji music were designated.
“Most Kurmanji music differs greatly from the music of the nations of the Middle East and Caucuses,” Said explained.
His research found that a rhythm called Gerogina, which is found in Iraqi music, is originally a Kurmanji rhythm.
Said is particularly well known for his composition ‘Peshmerga’ about the massacre of Yazidi people and capture of Sinjar by ISIS.
He was born in Dohuk in 1958. He is a graduate of the Baghdad music institute and holds a master's degree from the University of Wales in the UK. He has been living in diaspora in Austria since 1991.
