ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Zap between TV channels in the Kurdistan region on any given evening and a curious phenomenon can be found.
Across the networks one theme stands out: music videos about the Peshmerga, the legendary Kurdish fighters presently locked in battle with the Islamic State.
Even in the old bazaar in the heart of the regional capital Erbil, there is no escape from the Peshmerga music. A trader with a cart full of Kurdish flags sells the songs and plays them at high volume while puttering around the market selling his wares.
Since the Peshmerga started fighting ISIS in June, the support of the Kurdish street has been enormous, resulting in campaigns like the hugely successful “We are all Peshmerga” social media push. Such moves prompted a number of Kurdish artists to get together and record songs and videos with the same title.
Dozens of videos have followed: some covers of old songs, others newly produced tunes written for the occasion, like those of popular Kurdish singers Sivan Perwer and Zakharia. Often the performers wear Peshmerga uniforms and are filmed in front of armed fighters.
Songwriter, musician and producer Bafl Sarhang has written and produced a number of songs about the Peshmerga and the victims of ISIS. With Kamaran Karim he made “Peshmerge,” one of the few cheerful songs about the Kurdish fighters for whom he wrote the music.
A more traditional song, “Kurdistan” by Harem Salah, for which he did the musical arrangements and directed the video, is in heavy repeat and played daily on Kurdish TV.
Asked why so many songs and video were made in the past months, Salah points to Kurdish history, a past saturated with violence and suppression.
“Often the only answer was Kurdish hope, pride and music to motivate people in bad times. Kurds have always lived on the edge. Sadness was always very near to gladness,” Salah said.
At the same time, he added, “Many Kurdish musicians and singers feel they have to sing about their fatherland to uplift the moral of the people. Of course, some also misuse this to get fame by singing about the Peshmerga.”
Biza Shalmashi, a Europe-based artist involved in producing the recent music video “Yek Rezi” by Regga & Naaz, says many Kurdish performers feel obliged to produce a Peshmerga video.
The “Yek Rezi” video is a combination of rap and pop, in English and Kurdish, with images of the singers and TV screens showing Yezidis fleeing from ISIS. The core message is looped: “Nobody is able to stop it,” referring to the recent ISIS onslaught on the religious minority.
“The songs are mainly meant to keep up morale and create a feeling of unity among the Kurds,” Shalmashi said about the videos, adding “But not all of them actually do this. For some artists, it was more important to be among the first to produce one than to make a beautiful song.”
The diversity of the music videos is enormous: from military styled music to very poetic songs; from videos with well-produced stories to those that only show grainy pictures of Peshmerga fighters and Kurdish landscapes.
The songs and videos mirror the differences between the Kurds living in the Kurdistan region and those in the diaspora, as Shalmashi pointed out. Her latest video is popular abroad, but for local audiences she had to add Kurdish subtitles to the English lyrics.
“We Kurds abroad are a fusion of cultures,” she said, explaining this is why some songs are less popular in the region.
In an interview with some young Peshmerga fighters, a Kurd with dual nationality said he enjoys “Yeh Rezi” because “there are few rappers who can rap like him in Kurdish, and the text is incredible.”
Other Peshmerga preferred more traditional music with rhythms for Kurdish dances, or with lyrics about Kurdish suffering and heroism.
Musicians earn money when their videos are broadcasted, but illegal downloads on the Internet and illegally produced CDs cut into much of their income.
“Copyright laws have to be installed by the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, but they have bigger issues to care about at the moment,” Sarhang said.
He agrees with Shalmashi that not all of the songs and videos are up to standard.
“When so much is made of course the quality suffers. I am not happy about the quality of most of them, but this is how it works in any branch. After a while only the good music and videos remain, as that is what people will listen to and watch. The rest will disappear.”
Links: We are all peshmerga:
Yek Rezi:
Kurdistan:
Across the networks one theme stands out: music videos about the Peshmerga, the legendary Kurdish fighters presently locked in battle with the Islamic State.
Even in the old bazaar in the heart of the regional capital Erbil, there is no escape from the Peshmerga music. A trader with a cart full of Kurdish flags sells the songs and plays them at high volume while puttering around the market selling his wares.
Since the Peshmerga started fighting ISIS in June, the support of the Kurdish street has been enormous, resulting in campaigns like the hugely successful “We are all Peshmerga” social media push. Such moves prompted a number of Kurdish artists to get together and record songs and videos with the same title.
Dozens of videos have followed: some covers of old songs, others newly produced tunes written for the occasion, like those of popular Kurdish singers Sivan Perwer and Zakharia. Often the performers wear Peshmerga uniforms and are filmed in front of armed fighters.
Songwriter, musician and producer Bafl Sarhang has written and produced a number of songs about the Peshmerga and the victims of ISIS. With Kamaran Karim he made “Peshmerge,” one of the few cheerful songs about the Kurdish fighters for whom he wrote the music.
A more traditional song, “Kurdistan” by Harem Salah, for which he did the musical arrangements and directed the video, is in heavy repeat and played daily on Kurdish TV.
Asked why so many songs and video were made in the past months, Salah points to Kurdish history, a past saturated with violence and suppression.
“Often the only answer was Kurdish hope, pride and music to motivate people in bad times. Kurds have always lived on the edge. Sadness was always very near to gladness,” Salah said.
At the same time, he added, “Many Kurdish musicians and singers feel they have to sing about their fatherland to uplift the moral of the people. Of course, some also misuse this to get fame by singing about the Peshmerga.”
Biza Shalmashi, a Europe-based artist involved in producing the recent music video “Yek Rezi” by Regga & Naaz, says many Kurdish performers feel obliged to produce a Peshmerga video.
The “Yek Rezi” video is a combination of rap and pop, in English and Kurdish, with images of the singers and TV screens showing Yezidis fleeing from ISIS. The core message is looped: “Nobody is able to stop it,” referring to the recent ISIS onslaught on the religious minority.
“The songs are mainly meant to keep up morale and create a feeling of unity among the Kurds,” Shalmashi said about the videos, adding “But not all of them actually do this. For some artists, it was more important to be among the first to produce one than to make a beautiful song.”
The diversity of the music videos is enormous: from military styled music to very poetic songs; from videos with well-produced stories to those that only show grainy pictures of Peshmerga fighters and Kurdish landscapes.
The songs and videos mirror the differences between the Kurds living in the Kurdistan region and those in the diaspora, as Shalmashi pointed out. Her latest video is popular abroad, but for local audiences she had to add Kurdish subtitles to the English lyrics.
“We Kurds abroad are a fusion of cultures,” she said, explaining this is why some songs are less popular in the region.
In an interview with some young Peshmerga fighters, a Kurd with dual nationality said he enjoys “Yeh Rezi” because “there are few rappers who can rap like him in Kurdish, and the text is incredible.”
Other Peshmerga preferred more traditional music with rhythms for Kurdish dances, or with lyrics about Kurdish suffering and heroism.
Musicians earn money when their videos are broadcasted, but illegal downloads on the Internet and illegally produced CDs cut into much of their income.
“Copyright laws have to be installed by the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, but they have bigger issues to care about at the moment,” Sarhang said.
He agrees with Shalmashi that not all of the songs and videos are up to standard.
“When so much is made of course the quality suffers. I am not happy about the quality of most of them, but this is how it works in any branch. After a while only the good music and videos remain, as that is what people will listen to and watch. The rest will disappear.”
Links: We are all peshmerga:
Yek Rezi:
Kurdistan:
Latest Release:HAREM KURDISTAN
Posted by Studio YadMedia on Monday, March 9, 2015
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