|
Cowell Theater
Hailing from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, the world’s 35 million Kurds remain a people without a country. Centuries of war, politics, and ethnic tensions left them geographically and culturally divided. Despite these challenges — or perhaps because of them — Kurdish identity has been a wellspring for music, poetry, and dance.
“Voices of Kurdistan,” the center piece of Door Dog Music Productions’ San Francisco World Music Festival, explores this artistic richness through Kurdish poems presented in song, folk tales recounted in several dialects, and new compositions based on assorted traditional melodies.
 The festival opens Friday, September 29 at Fort Mason Center’s Cowell Theater with a US debut performance by rising Kurdish superstar Aynur. Once banned in Turkey for being openly Kurdish, Aynur’s music now enjoys international acclaim for combining time-honored Anatolian wanderers’ songs with modern Western styles. Her ensemble includes Turkish musicians playing the blur (wooden flute), daf (frame drum), tembur (lute), and viola.
 Saturday, maestro Ali Akbar Moradi plays the tanbur, a wooden, plucked-string instrument long-regarded as the sacred foundation of Kurdish Sufi music in Western Iran. Other performers include Syrian vocalist Mico Kendes, Iraqi percussionist Hussein Zahawy, Iranian goblet drummer Kourosh Moradi, and Bay Area vocalist Rojan. Before the show, renowned Turkish musician Ulas Ozdemir discusses Alevi Sufi philosophy and offers samples of his music.
The Kurdish showcase concludes Sunday with a concert featuring Aynur and all the musicians on stage. A pre-show lecture by Kurdish educator Rashid Karadaghi focuses on the culture, history, and politics of the Kurdish people.
For times and ticket information, see September 29, or for a full schedule of festival activities visit www.sfworldmusicfestival.org.
Also see "Kurdish Voice in a New World" (San Francisco Chronicle, Sep. 16, 2006).
— Aaron Lehmer
Ulas Ozdemir (top), Aynur (middle), and Kourosh Moradi (above).
|
