Kurdish Music Round Up: A Kurdish Drug Called Ahmet Kaya
by Naila Bozo
1. Ahmet Kaya
Say the name Ahmet Kaya to a Kurd and an expression of serenity and respect will spread across his face. Ahmet Kaya, a humble taxi driver, a Kurdish legend in music and a victim of the Turkish state's persecution of the Kurdish people was in fact half Turkish; his father was a Kurd but his mother a Turk. In a neighborhood in Istanbul, a graffiti text reads: The only drug taken through the ear is Ahmet Kaya.
Ahmet Kaya's interest in music grew against a backdrop of political turmoil in Turkey. Like everyone else, he was personally affected by it as he was forced to immigrate towards the richer western parts of Turkey with his family in order to survive and years later witnessed his friend being shot dead at a tumultuous Labor Day celebration.
His music became wildly popular among Turks and Kurds alike after the release of his first album in 1985. But the soft-spoken man faced a backlash from Turkish nationalists when he announced in 1999 at a grand show where he was to receive the award as the musician of the year that he would record a song in the Kurdish language; a language that had been officially banned in both private and public spheres following the military coup in 1980. Speaking in Kurdish usually meant severe maltreatment at the hands of the Turkish authorities, at times forced disappearances and death.
"I composed a Kurdish song and I am looking for a brave producer and a brave TV channel to broadcast it, and I know there are some among you."
The famous Turkish guests at the award show reacted by throwing forks and knives after him and singing a Turkish nationalist song. Not long after this he was forced to leave Turkey due to a constant stream of death threats directed against him. He was furthermore charged with conducting propaganda by promoting separatism; a charge that turned out to be based on a falsified photo of Ahmet Kaya in front of a picture of Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which was shared by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
Ahmet Kaya sought refuge in France but only a year later he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 43.
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2. Em-Had Muzik
Em-Had Muzik is the group of Kurdish rapper, Xebat, hailing from the town of Merdîn in North Kurdistan (Southeastern Turkey). Xebat came to Germany when he was three years old and grew up living under poor conditions and exposed to the hateful rhetoric from German right wing groups targeted at immigrants and refugees. In school, Xebat was mocked because of his immigrant background and Kurdish identity, which lead to the family moving around often.
Xebat's interest in music began when he would rap at nights with his brother Ez-Had whom he shared a room with. Xebat soon started to write his own lyrics and came to see rapping as a way to cope with the hardships his family suffered.
The tracks are mostly in German but mixed with phrases in Kurdish, reflecting the life of a refugee or immigrant child in a new, western country. Quickly alternating between German and Kurdish words, they sing in their track "Multi-Kurdi":
Let me tell you This guy is confused Early in school, sleeping Shit That's why my language is broken My head is broken Son of a bitch Do you understand me I am 100% a foreigner My blood is Kurdish
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3. Dezz Deniz Dezz Deniz is a Kurdish hip-hop artist who immigrated to Germany from the city of Batman in Northern Kurdistan with her family as a kid. She came to know about hip-hop through her friends at school and to satisfy her curiosity for the genre, she soon attended classes in music.
Dezz Deniz released her first album called "Who was it?" when she was 23 years old. In 2012 she released another album, "Change." Her lyrics convey social and political messages particularly about women's rights and Kurdish rights.
They, they've razed my world to the ground I was a rose in Batman and Van in the past Today I'm a rose about to commit suicide
I am a girl very ancient I am a girl graceful and pleasant I am a girl I am Beritan just like that freedom fighter I am a girl teeming with love sweet just like Zîn I am a girl I am Dezz Deniz I am in your presence
Dezz Deniz has stated that "My microphone is my gun and my tunes will become bullets shot at a corrupted system."
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4. Xatar Xatar is a Kurdish rapper who was born Giwar Hajabi in Eastern Kurdistan (northwestern Iran) in 1981. Still a child, his family moved to Germany. Xatar's father, who was a conductor and placed great value in providing musical influence upon his son, told him that he could not be a rapper with that name. He took the name Xatar, a slang word used among his friends, which means danger in Kurdish and Arabic. "There's no deeper meaning to it [the name], nothing philosophical," he told Vice Germany.
While Xatar used to sing about drinking, partying and women, he says he has changed his lyrics to revolve around the system, the institutions and what he observes in society: "I see the system from the inside. From jail. [...] It's much deeper. I have a higher standard now."
When you live in such a small space, you have time to think. I have become a believer, he told Vice News. Your conscience plays a huge part because you are being watched 24/7. And that is not the NSA, it is God. That is even bigger.
Let me report, the streets are poison We heal our scars with dope You see us tick, day and night This is the black out The opposite of opulence Please God, lead me down The righteous path Not down the one those took Who lost their minds Please God lead me down The righteous path Not down the one That stirs your wrath
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