Humans of East - Humans of Kurdistan

“Since I was born my ears have been filled with (Lawk w Hairan) singing and (Nay) music because one of my grandfathers was always singing and my other grandfather was always playing the Nay. At a young age, I was getting annoyed by hearing music and singing, but I really wanted to learn to play music. I started learning Santur at the age of 11 and after a while a started learning Persian music scales. Once I started learning the Persian music scales and forms, then I started appreciating how rich the Kurdish music is. Soon I stopped caring about Persian music and started working on Kurdish music. I have been researching on folklore in all of Kurdistan, especially Kurdish Mugham. I believe that one day we will collect all kinds of Kurdish Mughams such as Bait, Hairan, Lawk, Laile, Hora, Siachamana, and Wrda Qam from all part of Kurdistan and will be studied closely and will be preserved to represent the history of Kurdish authentic music.” ...

Nov 16 2020

November 16, 2020

“My husband and I weren't in a relationship before getting married, but I spent the hardest days of my life when he passed away. Just before he died, he held my hand tight, and I always think about what he had wanted to say. He kissed me for the last time, and I can still remember his cold lips. Because of being a woman, I have had many limitations and haven't been able to do everything I want even if I could do them better than men. It's not just about being able physically, a lot of the times women are much more capable than men. I am afraid one day death comes and I wouldn't be able to do everything I want.” ...

Nov 15 2020

November 15, 2020

“I remember when my mom first suspected that she has cancer, a word that can shock any home. My mother, and two of my brothers and I were very nervous, but my dad was saying that we cannot be this nervous we first need to find a solution. In a cold winter night, with teary eyes, my mother and a couple of her friends set out to Tehran. The doctor had said that my mother had to undergo surgery immediately, but the doctor was going to Europe and was taking a month there. My mother had two surgeries, she had a really difficult time. My parents went to Tehran again, my uncle came to take care of us. Our friends knew that our parents were away, but didn't why they were. One night, we were waiting for a call from my father, and my uncle was smoking nonstop. Suddenly, the phone rang, it was my father telling us that my mother had defeated the disease, and I couldn't believe it until I talked to my mom. Seven years later, she was diagnosed with cancer again, and she beat the disease once again.” ...

Nov 13 2020

November 13, 2020

“The worst time of my life was when they told me my dad had passed away. Nothing worth all that disparity, even your relative’s death or your own’s. In my opinion, life begins when you accept death, then you'll know what life is about. You'd wonder why you hadn't talked with them enough or why you hadn't said what was in your heart, but the future is more important than the past. The past is in the past, there is nothing you can do about it. If you work for the future, you can have control over your life.” ...

Nov 11 2020

November 11, 2020

“My hand was injured a couple of years ago, at first, I thought my sawing machine was malfunctioning, and then I saw that blood was covering the walls. At that moment, I realized that I had lost my fingers. The worst thing that has ever happened to me was losing my fingers because now I cannot do half of my work, it's really hard working without fingers. Nevertheless, life continues and I still believe in the future. I was the principal of Mariwan's industrial school and I had taught looming to a lot of people. I have a lot of customers, but no one helps me. I bought many machines for my work after I was retired and I went back to Nowdeshah. I make everything I need by myself.” ...

Nov 07 2020

November 7,2020

“I am always afraid of loneliness, it's very scary. Before I sleep every night, I put the blanket over my head and sleep quickly. For a while, I was so scared that I thought ghosts and monsters where coming for me. I bought a whistle and was whistling every time I was scared at 2 PM, that way all of the neighbors would run outside to see what's happened, and that would relief some of the stress I had. I am now going through the most difficult part of my life and loneliness is affecting me the hardest, no one wants me like before, I was truly happy at the beginning of my marriage. I used to do anything I wanted, but I can't do anything now. I need people around me more than ever, and COVID19 has made matters worse for me because we neither can visit anyone, nor can anyone visit us. My parents and my husband were very good to me, but they have all passed away now. My husband had bought me a lot of gold, even my fingers were covered with gold. I never loved anyone else after him, and I still pray for him and go to the cemetery to visit his grave.” ...

Nov 03 2020

November 3, 2020

“So far, I have not been happy with my life, as much as I think about it, I can't find a period of time where I have been happy. After my spouse and I were separated, I raised my kids the best way I can. I got into trouble because I participated in collecting money with my neighbors (sulfa) and after a while I couldn't pay, and eventually I was imprisoned. After a year and a half in prison I was diagnosed with cancer, and it was the hardest thing when they informed me. After all of that, my family didn't want to stay in contact with me. I started working in prison, I was doing everything, from being a janitor to even guarding. I collected about 8 million toman, I asked one of my cellmates to put a property on the line as a warranty for my release, and I was released. I still have to pay back 68 million toman, but I constantly work and sometimes people help as well. Most people who know me, think of me as an active woman, and that motivates me to keep going to finally have a better life.” ...

Oct 29 2020

October 29, 2020

“I remember that I used to love singing as a kid, I used to go in front of my room's mirror acting as a singer on a stage, using anything in front of me as a microphone. Once I got older, I knew that I liked working in the media as well, and felt that it was made for me. As a youngster I stopped learning Saz and music for personal reasons and started studying Media and Journalism in college, then I started studying masters while working in the media. Nevertheless, I have been singing professionally for a couple of years. Now I understand that you should never let your childhood dreams go because even if you let them go, they will never let you go.” ...

Oct 28 2020

October 28, 2020

“Life used to be very difficult. Back then, people used to work ten times more than they do now, but people now have better lives; they used to move logs or heavy items using their own hands or an animal, but it is different now. Nevertheless, people were happy back then despite the hard work, and now it is the opposite, easy life but an unhappy one. Nowadays, even people's hearts have hardened. We rarely ate without having guests, but now it seems as our village is unwelcoming of guests. If we were twenty to thirty houses in a village, whenever someone visited, they would have thought that we were all one family due to everyone being so close together.” ...

Oct 27 2020

October 27, 2020

“I have done several types of works on wood, such as designing, engraving, and making kids' toys with wood, as well as a number of crafts. However, pyrography is my favorite. I was in a pyrography exhibition, and a photographer asked me why I don't take the photos that are in my imagination, and so when I first started photography, I did really well because the things that I couldn't do with pyrography I was doing with photography. Reading also have had a big impact on me, whenever I see a meaningful line, I have always tried to photograph it.” ...

Oct 26 2020

October 26, 2020