Roj Bash !

Listen to him

Ali Merdan borned in 1904 in Kirkuk, where he studied at first in a sufi khanqah, learning to recitate the Coran and Kurdish maqâms, with his teacher Mollah Rauf. Later his family went to live in the village of Leylan, where lived the tenpûr player Khidr Baram, who taught him Kurdish music and maqâms.

When he went to Bagdad, he extended his knowledges by studying, beside of Kurdish maqâms, Persian and Arab repertory. He was considered then as a Master. He played many instruments while his favorite was the ‘ûd. He was also a fine amateur of poetry, Kurdish, Persian, Turkmen.

Moreover, Ali Merdan played a capital role in the history of Kurdish songs, for he launched, at the end of 30s, a broadcast of Kurdish music in radio Bagdad, allowing to singers like Hasan Zirek or Tahir Towfiq, to be listened by all the Kurds, beyond borders.

Ali Merdan died in 1981 and was buried in Seywan.