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During the period of the Soviet Union, two hour weekly Kurdish broadcasts began in 1955 on Radio Yerevan (Erivan), based in the capital of Armenia. These broadcasts were heard all over Anatolia and became extremely popular.
Each broadcast would begin with a dengbej (Kurdish folk singer) in the town of Dağpınar, in the Digor district of Kars (Qers), singing: ”This melody I read is from the land of Yerevan. This was read by the dengbêj there”.
Dengbêj Mevlüt praised the owners of the melodies: “Yerevan dengbêj are very precious, they are from the conservatoire”. He answered the question of what the conservatoire is, saying: ”It is dengbêj school”.
Yerevan (Erivan) school emerges as a milestone in the history of Kurdish music. It continues to be the centre of one of the largest recorded music archives of Kurdish culture that many people still listen to today.
In this project, it brings together classical music and Kurdish melodies again on Radio Yerevan.
The project, coordinated by anthropologist Özkan Öztaş, is set to begin in the studio in October. Yusuf Yalçın, the Head Violinist of Çukurova Symphony Orchestra, will be taking overall responsibility for the musical works.
Dîsa means ‘once again’ in Kurdish. Kurdish melodies recorded in the former Soviet Union will now be accompanied by classical music through this project.
All these musical works will be heard by labourers living in Anatolia and Mesopotamia without having to pay for them.
