Roj Bash Kurdistan

DIYARBAKIR, Kurdistan -- Cewade Merwani is collecting 6,000 Kurdish folk songs and plans to publish them in two volumes.

Music and dancing are integral parts of Kurdish culture and heritage and are found in the religious rituals of the past and the present. The majority of the Kurds know how to sing and dance.

There are various forms of traditional Kurdish singing -- including Hayran, Lawik and Lorin -- that have been circulating among people for thousands of years, but none have been recorded on CD or performed as a duet.

Merwani is currently working on duets using Kurdish folk songs. They consist of dialogues between a man and a woman and mostly tell true stories.

His project consists of 16 Kurdish songs and fables. Eight of these are rhythmic songs, and the other works are fables told in long maqam, a type of traditional singing.

"It is very interesting, they are all like cinematic scenarios," said Merwani.

Some people say the history of the Kurds is carried in these songs. Merwani agrees, saying, "There are stories of wars and conflicts between states, tribes and individuals in the Kurdish songs. They also contain information about our clothes, dances, leaders and our nature.”

“For instance the song Malazgird talks about the war of 1071," he added.

Merwani said that Kurds are still in the primary stages of this field, and that there are thousands of Kurdish songs, stories, proverbs and fables waiting to be collected.

“The researchers have a lot to do,” he said. “Collecting, writing and distributing the songs; identifying their melodies and explaining their content. They each could turn into a separate book.”

According to Merwani, he has spent 35,000 euros collecting and writing musical notes on the songs and fables and publishing the books.

He is currently working on two other books. One is about the Kurdish songs and the stories of Yerevan; the other is about Kurdish fables.