JINHA

WAN - Dengbêj women have continued to hand the history of Kurdish people down the next generations with songs. Meryem Tuncer is one of these women. She said the songs, which spread the unwritten culture abroad, shouldn't be forgetten. She noted that the young people must study on dengbêj culture and that's historically importance.

The main source of Dengbêj, which is oral literature of Kurdish culture, is love, war and migrations. Dengbêj (traditional Kurdish singer) is called also storytellers or reciters of epics. Mostly dengbêj people sing songs without any instruments. Even if the pressure, atrocity and bans are obstacles in performing the music culture, they cannot break the connection between Kurdish people and music. Women continue to carry the heritage of Ayşe Şan ve Meryem Xan who become immortalized in Kurdistan. One of these women is Meryem Tuncer (40). She stated that women created the culture of dengbêj and this culture become immortalized with them. She said that Dengbêj is the oldest and the most efficient oral art of Kurdish people.

Meryem stated that she met with the Dengbêj culture when she was a child. She said she never gave up to sing even if women were banned to sing her pain, joy and love with her own voice in the region where was dominated by feudal system. Meryem said, "Women couldn't sing. Singing songs were considered as male jobs. There were a lot of Dengbêj women that time. However, we hided ourselves because singing was shame and ban for us. Actually, women created the culture of Dengbêj. Women were forced to marry with men they didn't want to.

"Women always kept away from the culture they created. We sang our songs secretly. I was in love with Dengbêj. I attended the Dengbêj hours in the winter." Meryem was forced to marry when she was child. She missed her family and village. Then, she joined to a women's dengbêj group and she transferred her longings through songs. She said, "We carry our unwritten culture through songs. The women before us did the same. Young people must carry out studies on dengbêj culture and transfer our culture through songs."

(db/dc/dk/gd)