Dengbêj, or traditional Kurdish folk singers, are defined as the preservers of Kurdish culture. They held a concert in the southeastern province of Mardin (Mêrdin) in Turkey, MA reported.
A Şevbêrka Dengbêjan (Traditional Kurdish Singers’ Night) was organised by the Mesopotamian Cultural Arts Association in the Kızıltepe (Qoser) district of Mardin.
Dengbêj Perîxana Shirnexî and Dengbêj Ehmedê Xî took to the stage at the event held in the association building. The dengbêj performed their tunes individually.
During the concert, the dengbêj emphasised the importance of the Kurdish language and culture. It is not of course, an extraordinary thing to mention during such a concert, held for Kurds, since the dengbêj have a significant place in Kurdish history, transmitting the pain and the joy of the Kurds over generations through their songs.
Another reason for the significant importance of the dengbêj to the Kurds is that when there was no possibility for Kurds to write down what they experienced due to the ban of the Kurdish language, dengbêji (songs of the dengbêj) became the medium of Kurdish collective memory, and the Kurds, suffering from terrible oppression, used them as a means of resistance.