Aynur takes Kurdish passion across the Mediterranean

 Speaking with Today's Zaman following her performance, Doğan noted that the audience also played its role well. “They were listening very carefully and without any prejudice. This is very crucial nourishment for a musician. They were pulling me in, and that was important,” she said, adding that it was an enjoyable night for her. Born to an Alevi family in a small mountain town in the eastern Anatolian province of Tunceli, music always had a prominent place in Doğan's life. “Bağlama is a very important instrument for Alevi people. We perform our worship with the bağlama. It stays in the corner, and it has a holy aspect. Apart from this, Kurdish people, especially the women, sing dengbej [a traditional form of Kurdish folk music] a lot. Everybody expresses their emotional intensity and situation through music. Since I grew up in such an atmosphere, I was always close to music,” she recalls. After she and her family migrated to İstanbul due to the fighting between the Turkish military and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), she took bağlama lessons at the Arif Sağ Music (ASM) school. “I learned to think about music professionally at this school. I got the idea that I could devote myself to music there,” she says when asked about ASM's contribution to her musical path.

Doğan performed both Kurdish and Turkish songs for a sold-out show in the concert hall of Ennejma Ezzahra Palace in the Tunisian capital's annual Musiqat traditional music festival.

 Doğan became well known through director Fatih Akin's musical documentary “İstanbul Hatirasi” (Crossing the Bridge). Following her appearance in the film, she began to perform many more international concerts. But despite having moved to İstanbul and acquired international fame, she remains connected to her hometown. She said that once a person migrates, she always remains restless. “A desire for going somewhere else fills the person all the time. Of course, I still have a very strong relationship with the places I was born and grew up in; I took everything from there. But once you leave, you always look for some other place,” she emphasized.

 The past year has seen many developments in Turkey regarding the country's long-standing Kurdish issue. Asked about the recent creation of TRT Şeş, a state-run television channel broadcasting in Kurdish, and the “democratic opening” initiated by the Turkish government, Doğan said these are positive developments. “The more you promote a type of music or culture, the more competition or corruption you can get in such situations. We will all see what happens. These are things that had to happen. In fact, they should have happened 30 years ago, but they are happening now. It is still important,” she explained.

 Doğan's band was far more than mere backup on Saturday evening, as the audience was treated to the melancholy sounds of a solo kaval flute and the raucous thumping of the traditional duff. She was accompanied by Yılmaz Yeşilyurt on percussion, Fatih Yaşar on guitar, Yasin Boyraz on kaval and duff and Cemil Koçgun on bağlama and tambur. Doğan noted that they have all been friends for a long time. “We have been working together for the last five years. We suit each other great in both heart and mind. They were also brought up in a similar environment and culture as I was. Only Fatih is from the Black Sea area, but his heart is with us. That is the important thing anyways,” she said.

A world of traditional music

Though Doğan's performance was undeniably a highlight of the festival, the entire Musiqat lineup proved immensely popular this year. Event curator Mounir Hentati said the organizers received complaints because the festival was held in the same month as another important festival in nearby Carthage and music lovers were being forced to choose between concerts.

 Hentati explained that the festival, now in its fourth year, is “dedicated to traditional and new traditional music from all parts of the world,” adding, “What we would like to emphasize here is that diversity in music and culture should be preserved, and this is our contribution: to keep and preserve diversity and provide an opportunity for the Tunisian audience to discover and listen to various international interpretations and types of music.”

 He added that another highlight of the festival was the Mongolian ensemble Egschiglen, which he said was well balanced in all aspects. The audience was particularly fascinated by the overtone chanting, or throat singing, in which one singer produces two different tones simultaneously.