Celebrities of Kurdistan
Kurdistan is not just a geographical land in Iran. It is a shared soul and nationality amongst the people of the great Kurdistan. This part of Iran, this Kurdistan that speaks with the Kurdish language, has given the world and not just Iran, many famous and impressive characters known as the Celebrities of Kurdistan.
The Kurdish language is one of the ancient languages of the big family of the Persian language. It is like poetry and music is just born with Kurds.
Getting acquainted with the prominent personalities of the Kurd community is a valuable contribution to keep the people united. As much power lies within political decisions, art, and culture, the heritage of Celebrities of Kurdistan, is capable to undermine this fact and bring people of different tastes together.
Kurdistan has been a breeding ground for inspiring celebrities who have played central and efficient roles in many fields. This blog is dedicated to those who have brought beauty to the world.
Kayhan Kalhor
He came to this world in a music-loving family of Kermanshah. He started learning music freely at the age of five. Kalhor played music professionally when he was twelve, and at the age of thirteen, he started working with the Kermanshah Radio and Television Orchestra.
Kayhan Kalhor continued his studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. His collaboration with Indian artists like Hussein Khan’s Courage, Yoyoma, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, has made him a world-renowned artist. This man among the Celebrities of Kurdistan is the only Iranian musician who has been nominated for an American Grammy Award four times.
Shahram Nazeri
Nazeri rises from Kermanshah, and he is a true Kurd. Nazeri is a singer, musician, and composer. In most of his works, he has used Rumi’s poems in his 30 years of artistic activity. He was able to create and continue a new style of music inspired by Iranian epic and mystical literature.
In addition to the poems of Rumi, Nazeri started to vocalize contemporary Persian poetry in the Iranian traditional music system. That made him a pioneer in this type of music. Before him, there were only Classic Persian poems. Shahram Nazeri has released more than 40 music albums so far.
When we talk about Shahram Nazeri, we must not forget the rise of another famous musician for Kurds and Iran, his son Hafez Nazeri, Celebrities of Kurdistan.
Master Barat Ali Nuraei
Master Barat Ali Nurani, known as Kabrat, the master musician of Dohl, was born in Sanandaj. He performed his music in countries such as France, Germany, Greece, Russia, and Iraq. Master Barat Ali Nuraei achieved top degrees and titles. He also introduced the original art, customs, and culture of Iranians, especially Kurds when he played in national festivals.
Latif Halmat
Latif Halmat is from Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. “Halmat” is the nickname this poet chose for himself. He has been composing poetry for children since 1979 at the age of 28. Halmat published his first poetic experience for children under the title The Most Beautiful Village in those early years. As one of the members of the Celebrities of Kurdistan, he has published seventeen books in the form of poetry for children. Helmet won the APIC International Prize for Children’s Literature.
Mahwi
Mamutsa Mahwi was a very meticulous, careful, and sensitive poet. Some say it took him a month or a year to write a poem.
The meaning and content of his poems are very deep and remarkable. He wrote them with deep thought and insight. In general, the poems of Mahwi have many topics like his concern for the Kurdish nation and its pride in the Kurdish language.
Mastoureh Ardalan
Mastoureh Ardalan was born in Sanandaj during the rule of Amanullah Khan. She is the first female historian in the world.
The death of her husband and the loss of her young brother brought her down with severe depression. Mastoureh Ardalan left Sanandaj in 1263 and went to Sulaymaniyah.
Among her works is a Poetry Divan with 2000 verses in the form of Masnavi and Ghazal. The history of Ardalans doubled her fame and gave her the title of the first female historian and one of the celebrities in Kurdistan.
Bakhtiar Ali
Bakhtiar Ali is an active contemporary Kurdish novelist, poet, and essayist. Bakhtiar Ali was born in Sulaymaniyah in 1960 and emigrated to Germany in 1996. His first novel, The Death of the Second Single Child (Death of the Twelfth Innocent), was published in 1997 in Sweden. His second novel, The Butterfly Sunset, was published in 1998.
Goran
Abdullah Beg, son of Suleiman Beg, son of Abdullah Beg, with the nicknamed Goran, was born in 1904 or 1905 in Halabja. A child whose father and grandfather were both poets and literary figures and Celebrities of Kurdistan.
Goran is mainly the architect and father of poetry of Kurdistan today. Although before Goran, Sheikh Nouri Sheikh Saleh laid the first foundations of this literary movement by composing several contemporary poems, it was only Goran who, by systematizing this movement, gave it a unique identity. With the works Goran created in his literary style, he gave the Kurdish language a new soul.
With such fantastic work, Goran revived Kurdish literature. It brought new horizons to the forefront, combined classical, and ancient literature with a more modern perspective that emerged from the literature that society was waiting for it.
Kamkarha
This band starter for the first time in Sanandaj as a family band. Their leader is Hassan Kamkar and Houshang; Accordionist, Bijan; Singer, Peshang; Santour player, Ghashang Kamkar; Singer and Violinist; Arjang Kamkar (Tombak), Arsalan (Oud), and Ardeshir (Kamancheh)
This Kurdish band has performed numerous concerts in Iran, Kurdistan, and abroad. They have regularly performed at some major music festivals and venues in Europe and the United States.
The Kamkars or Kamkarha have given concerts in most cities in Iraqi Kurdistan. For the first time in Turkish history, in 2001Kamkar band performed Kurdish music in the cities of Istanbul and Diyarbakir.
Serzad Hesen
Serzad Hesen is one of the contemporary Kurdish writers who entered the writing world from the beginning with a different style and procedure.
Serzad Hesen, the famous writer of the Celebrities of Kurdistan, was born in 1951 in Erbil (the capital of Kurdistan).
He is known for his stories and has impressive works in the fiction field and novels with a different perspective in Kurdish literature. His writings, all written in Kurdish and the Sorani dialect, have been translated into other languages of the world.
By breaking the taboos and limitations of traditional society, he was able to reveal some of the causes of helplessness and backwardness of the people and the pains and hardships of the lower strata of his community.
The Celebrities of Kurdistan does not end here, there are many more people to write about. Being a Kurd comes with leverages such as talent in many fields of art.