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The Shaxweshin Music Group play on Rudaw TV's Nuroji Dostan program on November 19, 2019. Photo: Rudaw TV
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Yarsani music group from Kermanshah is making preparations to hold a concert in the United States. The Shaxweshin Music Group, which consists of seven musicians, received an official invitation from local authorities in Los Angeles to perform in March 2020.
Shaxweshin was established in 2009 and specializes in playing the tembur, a uniquely Kurdish instrument considered to be holy in the Yarsani faith. The tembur is a pear-shaped lute made of mulberry and walnut wood, with four metal strings stretched across 13 frets.
In a visit organised by the Kurdish Community of Southern California and the Kurdish American Education Society, the group are to perform at the World Spiritual Concert at the Claremont United Church of Christ.
The city's mayoral office issued a statement of support for the group's visit, calling it part of "efforts to deepen the ties between Los Angeles and the Kurdish Community."
However, the group told Rudaw English they are encountering difficulties in acquiring their visa. "Yesterday we were denied visa from the American Consulate General in Erbil. We will re-apply for visa elsewhere either in Turkey, Armenia or Dubai," group member Sasan Sofi told Rudaw TV on Monday.
The Yarsans, also called Ahl-e-Haqq or "People of Truth," are a religious minority of ethnic Kurds, concentrated predominantly in western Iran and to a lesser extent across the border in the Kurdistan Region. The global Yarsani population is somewhere between one and three million.
Iran's western province of Kermanshah is home to the largest number of Yarsans, and is also the region where the tembur originated. Within the Kurdistan Region, Yarsans are mostly concentrated in Halabja province.
The group have previously held concerts in cities including Ilam, Sanandaj, Kermanshah in Iran, and in the Kurdistan Region cities of Raniya, Duhok and Sulaimani, Sofi said.
He labeled Yarsani music as "an old Kurdish music style which dates back thousands of years," and said "The tembur that we use is 6,000 years old. The tembur is a fully Kurdish kind of music."
Speaking of their work in Iran, he added it is "very difficult." He explained, "Yarsanians are a small minority," and, "for us there are tough filters when it comes to performing."
The group is currently in the process of recording an album named Dakhi Dawran.
Shaxweshin was established in 2009 and specializes in playing the tembur, a uniquely Kurdish instrument considered to be holy in the Yarsani faith. The tembur is a pear-shaped lute made of mulberry and walnut wood, with four metal strings stretched across 13 frets.
In a visit organised by the Kurdish Community of Southern California and the Kurdish American Education Society, the group are to perform at the World Spiritual Concert at the Claremont United Church of Christ.
The city's mayoral office issued a statement of support for the group's visit, calling it part of "efforts to deepen the ties between Los Angeles and the Kurdish Community."
However, the group told Rudaw English they are encountering difficulties in acquiring their visa. "Yesterday we were denied visa from the American Consulate General in Erbil. We will re-apply for visa elsewhere either in Turkey, Armenia or Dubai," group member Sasan Sofi told Rudaw TV on Monday.
The Yarsans, also called Ahl-e-Haqq or "People of Truth," are a religious minority of ethnic Kurds, concentrated predominantly in western Iran and to a lesser extent across the border in the Kurdistan Region. The global Yarsani population is somewhere between one and three million.
Iran's western province of Kermanshah is home to the largest number of Yarsans, and is also the region where the tembur originated. Within the Kurdistan Region, Yarsans are mostly concentrated in Halabja province.
The group have previously held concerts in cities including Ilam, Sanandaj, Kermanshah in Iran, and in the Kurdistan Region cities of Raniya, Duhok and Sulaimani, Sofi said.
He labeled Yarsani music as "an old Kurdish music style which dates back thousands of years," and said "The tembur that we use is 6,000 years old. The tembur is a fully Kurdish kind of music."
Speaking of their work in Iran, he added it is "very difficult." He explained, "Yarsanians are a small minority," and, "for us there are tough filters when it comes to performing."
The group is currently in the process of recording an album named Dakhi Dawran.
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