Aslîka Qadir keeps singing her songs

Dengbêj Aslîka Qadir, best-known for her song “Welatê Me Kurdistan e”, dedicates her life to Kurdish art and culture. She still takes the stage and sings her songs with a strong voice.

News Center- Dengbêj women are always intelligent, agile, and courageous women. Aslîka Qadir is one of these women, who have great voices. These women keep the culture and life of their society alive with their songs. Sûsika Simo, Zadîna Şakir, Fatma Îsa and Aslîka Qadir are female dengbêjan, who were born in Armenia to Kurdish and Yazidi families and make their voices heard through Radio Yerevan. Dengbêj Aslîka Qadir is best-known for her song “Welatê Me Kurdistan e” in the Serhat Region.

Aslîka Qadir was born on March 1, 1945, in Armenia. Between 1964 and 1965, she studied Armenian and Farsi languages at university in Armenia. She became famous among the university students as a Dengbêj. Kurdish music master Egidê Cimo heard about Aslîka Qadir’s strong voice and he got in contact with her when she was a student at the university. Egîdê Cimo asked Aslîka Qadir to song one of her songs. After listening to her song, Egîdê Cimo invited her to sing her songs at Radio Yerevan station.

Her father supported her

Aslîka Qadir’s father supported her career in Dengbêj and advised her to listen to Egîdê Cimo and go to the radio station whenever Egîdê Cimo called her. In one of her interviews, Aslîka Qadir talked about her father’s love in the tradition of Dengbêj, “My daughter, you will go and sing your songs. Your job is a holy job, and not for you. What is you are going to do is for our children and grandchildren, for the future.”

“Welatê me Kurdistan e, ci meskenê me Kurdan e”

In an interview with Özgür Politika newspaper, Aslîka Qadir told her journey with the tradition of Dengbêj. “Like everywhere else, we couldn’t mention the word of Kurdistan in Armenia. According to the laws in the Soviet Union, all nations were siblings and the Kurds had to see the Soviet Union as their country, not Kurdistan. If Kurds had said that they were from Kurdistan, they would have been arrested, killed, and exiled. We first secretly sang “Welatê me Kurdistan’a (Our country is Kurdistan)” song. And this song made a positive impact on the revolution among the people. Yes, with the voice of a Kurdish woman, we openly declared that “Welatê me Kurdistan e, ci meskenê me Kurdan e” (Our country is Kurdistan, it is the place of Kurds)”

She faced pressure

After graduating from the university, Aslîka Qadir worked at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports in Armenia and she kept following her cause for Kurdish art and language until the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, the fire of nationalism also broke out among Armenians. “Armenia is for Armenians,” they said and forcibly displaced the people from other nations. Life was turned into hell again for the Kurdish people, who escaped from the pressures in Turkey and took refuge in Armenia and they faced new racism. Armenians killed Kurdish intellectuals, Prof. Dr. Seîdê Îbo and Memoyê Xelid to cause fear among Kurds. Undoubtedly, this situation also affected Kurdish art. Aslîka Qadir also faced pressures like other Dengbêjan (plural of dengbej).

Dengbêj Aslîka Qadir moved to Germany and she still lives there. She still keeps singing her songs there.

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