Halfhearted welcome for the 'Voice of Kurdistan'
Iconic Kurdish singer Sivan Perwer returns to Turkey after 37 years in exile, but is not warmly embraced by the people who grew up with his music.
If you have been watching the news from Turkey recently, there is a good chance that you heard his voice, and that you want to hear it more.
But before you surf the net clicking on every link bearing his name, or spend more than a few bucks on his albums at online music stores, I recommend that you go to the man’s official website. There you will find his best recordings played one after another with good sound quality and no breaks in between songs.
When you first get to his homepage, you will be given the option to skip the intro. Don’t! It is there, in a mere 15 seconds, that the iconic Kurdish singer Sivan (pronounced "Shivan") Perwer presents himself to the world:
We see two or three shots of him taken in concert. We watch the drawing of a white pigeon fly away against a dark background. A map appears, showing Turkey’s southeast colored in the Kurdish flag’s green, red and yellow and labeled with the land’s proper — but officially taboo — geographical name as “Kurdistan.” The sun rises behind the mountains. His fans cheer.
