Published on 13th August 2017
By Avrupa Postasi
The Kurdish musician Aynur, who took the stage in the world famous Elbphilharmonie hall with a capacity of 2000 people, considered as the symbol of Hamburg, fascinated the audiences of Turkey origin for almost two hours.
Published on 12th August 2017
Newspaper: Cumhuriyet
Translation: Google Translate
The Kurdish musician Aynur says that the new album ‘Hawniyaz’ means ‘Wish in the Air’ and says, “I kind of wish, I wanted, we got together and I was Hawniyaz
From the stars of Kurdish music, Aynur came together with world famous virtuosos in his new album “Hawniyaz” and made an improvised recording over five tracks. In “Hawniyaz” album published under Sony Music label, Aynur, kemençe virtuoso Iranian Kayhan Kalhor, drummer Cemîl Qoçgîrî and drummer Cemîl Qoçgîrî, who are known for their drumming and experimental music approach, and Azerbaijani pianist Salman Gambaro making a musical journey through the stories of this land.
Aynur, who lives abroad, answered my questions by mail.
– Why is your album name Hawniyaz?
Hawniyaz is a word used both in Persian and Kurdish. A word that expresses how to come together, to meet, to breathe each other, to niyaz, to steal and to say. Another meaning is “Wish in the Air”. I mean, I kind of begged, we came together and we got “Hawniyaz”.
– Why did you want to re-vocalize the tracks “Delale”, “Rewend”, “Xidire min”, “Malan Barkir – Berivane”, “Ehmedo – Ez Reben Im”?
Our first meeting and registration was in 2012. This repertoire was new to my dear Kayhan or Salman, they listened to me at the concert and liked me very much. We have already come together to express our favorite tunes and songs in different forms that we have not started with the idea of making albums to the project. With these sounds Cemil knows, the project has improved more easily. What makes the album different from other works is that it is an album that everyone improvised, added something and recorded live, not on any fiction. It is a traditional but somewhat experimental album with some classic, jazz and mystical motifs.
– What did this quartet bring in the music?
The messenger of our music souls. We came together to deliver it to the owners waiting for it.We have had the pleasure of sharing the possibility, beauty, and fidelity of making or developing something common with music. Working with the masters of their own business, singing, ensuring their integrity with their tones, confidence and rest and bringing experience afterwards.
– Do you read a piece in Kurdish yourself? Reading in English or other language?
I feel much more open and open when I study Kurdish, and most importantly I feel that I have experienced all my childhood. Maybe I do not know, maybe not to forget, to lose that feeling, to live. But turküler, sayings, long awaits these are my traditions, and I feel the same feelings when I read them. I feel the language is Kurdish even when feeling all Turkey! I think we should look at this picture and value it. There are also those who regard Turkey as a richness, those who prejudge it. I present my respects of infinite love to this audience, to every audience in this belief. I especially wanted to mention this. If you have a real connection with music, the easiest is to pronounce those two words. The rest are prejudices we have learned.
– Making music in Kurdish is a political stance in itself?
Of course! Every element that forms a language that does not accept the existence is political.We try to recall the simplicity of the music as much as possible while making music, but I can tell you that it is not easy.
Felt Kurdan: woman’s re-awakening
– The pieces that shines you are “Felts Kurdan”, “Yare” Şivan Perwer’ın works … What is the contribution of Şivan Perwer’s music?
I grew up with Kurdish. Since my childhood, I have listened to songs, songs, pies holding Dersim’s songs, pies, which I have listened to, all these things have already prepared me. I knew Sivan Perwer but after listening to Istanbul I could listen in detail in 90s. Especially for the first time I was very impressed and very excited when I was alive. His enthusiasm, excitement and hope were encouraging. I grew up listening to Mahmud Baran, Şeroyê Biro, Aram Tigran, and Mary Xan.
The song of Felt Kurdan is; I wanted to say that the mission that women put on them is because it invites them to fight for themselves, that is, the symbol of the re-awakening of women.
– When you give a concert in Turkey in an interview, you said in line that they want to record a criminal record. Still?
I have not had a concert in Turkey for about three years.
– Why do you give a little concert in Turkey while giving so many concerts abroad?
Demand is coming from abroad most, I can say completely from abroad. Under these conditions nobody wants to give much place to Kurdish music in Turkey.
– Where do you live? Please do not be an inquisitor …
Eee, unfortunately … All of my work, my collaborative projects, a great part of my time, is going on because almost all of the musicians I have developed live in Europe.
– Tunisia, Ireland, Germany, Canary Islands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Brazil … You are walking around the world for concerts. What are you putting in your baggage?
When I have a nice concert and beautiful listeners, I turn back with a wonderful energy that can not fit. n In a criticism about you, “Who can speak of the existence of a soundun unique to Aynur? A star is born but a sound is not born, “he wrote. Do you accept this? I think it was an evaluation for the first album in 2004. The spirit of each era can be different. I am an audio artist, I come side by side with different musicians, I do different experiments. My sound is my voice.
Eyes always closed …
– You are telling the eyes more off the pieces … Where do you go when singing with your eyes closed?
I am integrated with my songs. I meet my own feelings.
– Yasar Kemal said to you, “It is as strong as the voice of thousands of keçin descenders from the sounding mountains.” When you are at the highest level on stage, what do you feel? “ You and those who define you always refer to it from nature …
My childhood has been intertwined with nature, I feel very fortunate to be myself. For me, nature, life, breath, self-discovery, more self-expression and self-expression.
– Why is there no Turkish translation in the album book that meets with music lovers in Turkey?
The album was actually made with a company from abroad and came out there. When the demand was over, we decided to take it out here as well. Most of the songs already have translations on other albums and on our website.
‘I am in a state of distress’
– What do you want to say about Turkey’s agenda? What kind of mood are you in?
I am in distress and regrettably watching.
– What do you want to say about the problems of Kurdish identity in Turkey?
This country is rich with the color of every corner. We need to see and accept it. Together we have no choice but to strengthen an equal and free life.
‘Bitter, reality of Kurdish geography’
– When I listen to the album I feel filled with pain … What does the album tell us as a whole?
The album actually tells the geography we live in. Unfortunately, you can often see the reality and music of Kurdish geography. The words in this album also have pain, sadness, longing, hope or even rebellion.
– Why do we always tell the pain side of pain?
Maybe I do not know how to get rid of ourselves. Maybe it’s the unseen anguish, to hear the pain …
– Who is the Aynur other than the musician? Is he sad? Is it insulting?
I can sometimes be rebellious and sometimes sad, but I am hopeful even when I hit the bottom.
Published on 13th July 2017
By Culture Project
Originating from Turkey’s Kurdish community ( North Kurdistan), Aynur Doğan (known as Aynur) is a world-renowned singer and artist. Having received praise from both the Turkish and global press[1], Aynur is one of the most celebrated and best selling singers of Kurdish music performing today.
Aynur’s skill as a performer is also reflected in the calibre of musicians she collaborates with, such as the distinguished cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who invited Aynur to participate in his Silk Road Project – an initiative that aims to encourage cross-cultural musical collaboration (the name, of course, being an allusion to the vast network of trade routes that came to cover much of the Eurasian continent). And earlier this year, Aynur performed at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of the United States’ most prestigious music schools, further highlighting her artistic talents and universal appeal.
Beyond Aynur’s enchanting and evocative singing, she’s equally adept with the saz, a fretted stringed instrument frequently heard within Kurdish music.
While Turkey is an outlier compared to other Muslim-majority countries in its liberal stance towards certain artistic forms like devotional dancing, a result of the historic presence of the Mevlevi Sufi order[3], Kurdish musicians have always had a particularly uneasy relationship with the Turkish authorities (in 2005, a court in Diyarbakir banned Aynur’s album “Keçe Kurdan”, though the verdict was overturned shortly after[4]). Again, this history of repression is echoed in the music of the Kurds, moulding the sounds and themes contained within the idiom. Aynur herself alludes to this, explaining: “What makes the difference in Kurdish music are laments – war, separation, disaster. That’s what they’re about.”[5]
As a performer, Aynur is perhaps at her most compelling when singing in a smaller ensemble, allowing her the space to explore her full dynamic range and vocal timbres. Her performance in Akin’s documentary evidences this, with the only musical accompaniment coming in the form of a simple drone. Aynur then performs a moving lament – the mournful lyrics being complemented beautifully by the employment of the haunting Phrygian dominant scale in the vocal melody, a common scale throughout the music of the Mediterranean and Middle East.
Aside from her prodigious talents, Aynur’s success is representative of music’s ability to cross cultural barriers and resonate with people the world over. Yet her work also illuminates broader issues concerning artistic freedom and censorship, and while she’s keen to be seen primarily as a musician rather than a “political singer”, she’s acutely aware of matters relating to human rights, asserting: “I am not somebody who wants to sing in quiet.[6]” Let’s hope she continues to sing out for all to hear.
Sandy Buglass is a professional musician, lecturer and writer based in London, UK. He writes on art, culture and politics. You can find him on Twitter @SandyBuglass.
Written exclusively for Culture Project
[1] https://aynurdogan.net/biyografi/index
[2] http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10jmbx_crossing-the-bridge-the-sound-of-istanbul-eng-subs-pt-2_music
[3] http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-6-religious-practics/
[4] https://en.qantara.de/content/interview-with-the-kurdish-singer-aynur-dogan-resisting-the-wind
[5] http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10jmbx_crossing-the-bridge-the-sound-of-istanbul-eng-subs-pt-2_music
[6] https://en.qantara.de/content/interview-with-the-kurdish-singer-aynur-dogan-resisting-the-wind
Published on 8th March 2017
By Berklee
At its annual spring concert, on March 16, the Mediterranean Music Institute (MMI) will honor Kurdish musician Aynur with this year’s Master of Mediterranean Music Award and, at the same time, launch its Women in Action initiative, which seeks to raise awareness of female artists and to promote gender equality in the Mediterranean music scene.
Aynur, a vocalist from a Kurdish-influenced region in southeastern Turkey who was raised in Istanbul, grew up with the myths and poetry of the Alevites, a religious minority in which music plays an important role in passing along faith and tradition. Her music is based on these folk songs, many of them hundreds of years old, and focuses on the life and suffering of Kurdish people, and especially Kurdish women.
“By recognizing great talents such as Aynur, who has overcome many difficulties in her career and has persevered in her quest, we try to set an example of a new generation of women musicians,” said Javier Limón, the artistic director of the Mediterranean Music Institute.
The MMI’s Mediterranean Women in Action initiative will last through 2018 and will focus on female students from the region by promoting their music and supporting them in developing and furthering their professional careers. In addition, beginning this fall, the MMI will spotlight repertoire from great artists such as vocalists Rosa Balistreri from Sicily, Italy, and Fairuz from Lebanon.
While Aynur’s work helps preserve Kurdish folk oral traditions, she also blends the music of her heritage with modern Western styles to create a sound of her own. Her Western influences include artists as varied as John Coltrane, Mari Boine, and Tracy Chapman. She has collaborated with Yo Yo Ma and Silk Road Ensemble; Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor; Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh; Turkish composer and DJ Mercan Dede; and many other notable artists of the Mediterranean and beyond.
Launched in 2014, the Master of Mediterranean Music Award recognizes excellence in Mediterranean music. That year, flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela and flamenco singer José Mercé shared the honor. Since then, the MMI has given the award to harmonica player Antonio Serrano and flamenco legend Pepe de Lucía.
Aynur will receive the award at the MMI’s spring concert at the Berklee Performance Center. Accompanying Aynur will be the MMI Consort, a band of Berklee students from the Mediterranean. Also appearing onstage will be a Spanish jazz flamenco trio formed by guitarist Josemi Carmona, double-bassist Javier Colina, and percussionist José Manuel Ruiz Motos “Bandolero.”
