Shokrollah Baban died today (from radio Kermashan) 18 nov 12

[dyaoko]

Shokorllah baban died today in the age of 89,
you can remember his voice in Kermashan in Eastern Kurdistan (Iranian Kurdistan), his voice are often before Hesen Zirek songs, reading poems.

he is also author of these books : Salah adin Ayubi book, Gegraphy of Kurdistan , Persian to Kurdish dictionary, he has 8 children, 5 sons and 3 daughters, Fwad Baban and Siamak Baban are both News reader in Iranian TV, Bakhtiar baban was also capitan of Iranian basketball team.

translated from Persian by Dyaoko for Roj Bash
Source facebook page of "I love Sanandaj"

پیشکسوت و فعال فرهنگی در سن 89 سالگی در تهران دار فانی را وداع گفت.
شکرالله بابان چهره نام آشنای رادیو و تلویزیون و از گویندگان پیشکسوت صداو سیما اولین ساعت بامداد روز شنبه 27 آبان 91 براثر کهولت سن درگذشت و صبح امروز در مراسمی در قطعه نام آوران فرهیختگان و هنرمندان بهشت زهرای تهران به خاک سپرده شد.

شکرالله بابان در سال 1302 هجری شمسی در سنندج متولد شد و فعالیت رادیویی‌اش را سال 1334 در تهران آغاز کرد. وی به عنوان گوینده، مفسر، شاعر، نویسنده، مترجم و مدیرکل مراکز صداو سیمای آذربایجان غربی، کرمانشاه و کردستان فعالیت کرده ‌است.

کتاب‌ صلاح‌الدین ایوبی، جغرافیای کردستان و کرد و کردستان فرهنگ لغت هزار صفحه‌ای فارسی به کردی از جمله تالیفات مرحوم بابان است. وی دارای 8 فرزند (5پسر و 3 دختر) است که فواد بابان گوینده قدیمی صدا و سیما، بابک بابان گوینده اخبار ورزشی شبکه خبر و بختیار بابان کاپیتان پیشین تیم ملی بسکتبال ایران از جمله فرزندان سرشناس شکرالله بابان هستند.

مراسم ختم آن زنده‌یاد روز سه شنبه 30 آبان ساعت 18 تا 19:30 در مسجد نور میدان فاطمی برگزار می‌شود.

[jjmuneer]

RIP, is he a Kirmanshani Kurd or Fayli?

[dyaoko]

He is actualy from Sena (Sena dej) here is his voice in a poem before Hesen Zirek's music:

[Nubahar]

Rahma Xwedê Lêbi....
Min ew gûhdar kir dengêwî piiirrr xweşbu.

[unitedkurdistan]

I have many of his poems on cassette actually but I can't play them, a great man with a great voice RIP.
They come from a very royal kurdish family. Once, the cooperated with Ardalan and took over big parts of iraq, baghdad twice from the ottomans.

[dyaoko]

an Article about Shokorllah Baban

Kurdish literary genius and giant, Shokrollah Baban

KurdishMedia.com - By Dr Amir Sharifi01/12/2012 00:00:00
On November 18, 2012 Shokrollah Baban, the great Kurdish poet, author, mythologist, radio programmer, and lexicographer passed away he had been afflicted with alzhmeir’s disease. Born to an influential Kurdish family in Sanandaj, Baban was heir to a great deal of wealth and land. However, so powerful was his artistic sensibility and zest and gusto for literature and music that he sold all his belongings and property to continue his education in Tehran in 1952. According to Kamangar Mohammad who fondly recalls his association with him and Farhad Baban his son, who still remembers his father with awe, he was employed in 1958 as the general program producer for Kurdish Programs in Tehran initially and subsequently radio Kermanshah and the entire Western Azerbaijan in 1963. This work culminated in his serving the Kurdish language and culture as a poet, author, playwright, dramatist, and translator for over thirty years in his capacity as general manager for Radio Sanandaj, his home town. According to Kamangar, during the time he was in charge of Radio Kermanshah, the radio’s signals could reach as far as North America, which made it possible for Kurds even in the U.S to communicate with the program producers. The value of Mr.Baban’s efforts has been penetrating. His innovative and popular program “Karvan halbast wa gorani” the Caravan of Poetry and Songs became a model for others to emulate in their initiation of programs such as Barnameh Gol hah The program of Flowers, an anthology of poetry and music which was conducted as a distinct genre in Persian for years. Baban’s work as a musicologist also informed the work of famous Kurdish vocalists such as Hassan Zirak and Khaleghi. For Baban, his radio program became ubiquitous, a fixture in every Kurdish home through which Kurdish poetry and music came alive with Baban’s warm and penetrating voice; he imparted and shared his aesthetic sensibilities with Kurdish people young and old. His works dealt with music, poetry, artistic and dramatic forms, aesthetic criticism, philosophical and mystical reflections, comments, and translations. For me and friends such as Ali Ashuri -whom I consulted in writing this obituary- born and raised in different parts of Kurdistan in Iran, Baban’s engaging personality and charged poetic language produced pleasurable moments and rare memories during our formative years. Deprived of the right to read and write in Kurdish, these enlightening experiences deeply moved us and were invaluable to educating and socializing our generation into our language and culture in depth and variety.

Indeed Mr. Shokrallah Baban was a genius and a gentle giant on whose shoulders a whole generation stands. He was the sense and intellect of my generation, a cultural artist whose professional life was nothing but to be a moral force loyal to Kurdish cultural, mythological, musical, and historical core values. He recovered the Kurdish literary world and history and revealed its richness and beauty to his listeners and readers either through his own work or Kurdish classical and contemporary poets and authors. He earned this linguistic and literary authority and extensive repertoire because of his wisdom and imaginative power to understand and recognize the importance of Kurdish cultural heritage and expressions. Perhaps as in iconic figure he has had the greatest influence in the construction of a new cultural consciousness and sensibility. In this context, he was a pioneer in initiating, instituting, and institutionalizing research and dissemination of Kurdish histories, literary traditions and modern literacies in an accessible and clear language.

Kurdish language and culture had a special place in Mr.Baban’s heart. He explored and brought to surface new possibilities for the development of the language and its literature through everyday discourse. In his poetry we see the primordial and visceral yet a rich and colorful imagination. His work conceived of age old traditions of lyrics and epics with their contemporary possibilities and in which Kurdish society with its delights and despairs was always the inexhaustible source for the creation and recreation of a vibrant world. He created and gave the language and its speakers his whole being. Mr. Shokrollah Baban is truly one of the earliest thinkers and poets that brought real language into the realm of poetry and songs, showing the expanse and richness of every day discourse in symbolisms, allegories mystical and mythical representations.

To preserve the Kurdish enduring legacies, Mr.Baban authored several books including Baban’s Dictionary, Kurds and Kurdistan, Saladin Ayyubi, Kurdistan’s Geography. His “Names and Symbols”, “Anthology of Poems” are yet to be published.

The Kurdish nation indeed has lost a giant whose love for Kurds and Kurdistan penetrated all aspects of his life and his voice has forever pierced visible and invisible walls on its way to us. To preserve his legacy, responsible and influential figures and entities in collaboration with his family should compile, repair, preserve, digitize, and disseminate his precious works to serve as a national treasure for Kurds everywhere.

I still vividly recall some lines from a poem by Baban “Moon and Me” I heard this free verse when I was 12.

Oh! Moon

you and I have a common pain,

Both of us are caught in a cold sigh.

You, murky and pale in the sky

I, a vagabond in every city

I pay homage to you

The Kaaba of the sickness of heart

The remedy of the heartaches of lovers,

It is night time,

Tonight come to my rescue.

I am lonely, without a friend or a beloved

I am distraught and tormented,

Come to my rescue

I am caught in the oppression of my beloved Shirin.

References: Interview excerpts from Kurdish Press

Dr. Amir Sharifi is with California State University, Long Beach and the President of Kurdish American Education Society, Los Angeles