Yesterday’s return visit with Nahro Zagros to the Yezidi village was both sad and beautiful. Unfotunately, one of the villagers died of cancer three days earlier, and now the time had come to bury him. For Zagros, it was time to both pay his respects and to also record the musical tradition of the Yezidi at such a time. Upon our return to Yerevan, I asked Zagros about his impressions.

OK: You’re in Armenia to look at Yezidi musical tradition, but you’re an ethnic [Moslem] Kurd. Do you see Yezidi culture in terms of music as being specifically Yezidi, Kurdish, or a combination of the two?

NZ: What makes Yezidi music different from Kurdish music is the behaviour displayed by Yezidi towards it. For example, the funeral we attended today. It’s traditionally very Kurdish, but does not exist among Kurds any more in the various parts of Kurdistan. It only exists among Yezidis.

OK: So it’s been preserved among the Yezidi?

NZ: It’s been preserved in the [Kurdish] Diasporas, and in Armenia this means Yezidis. Interestingly, a question emerges here. Why doesn’t this tradition exist among [Moslem] Kurdish people in Azerbaijan and other parts of the former Soviet Union? Maybe Yezidism as a separate religion has contributed to this and the fact they have not assimilated into a different culture.

OK: The music that I heard today was both sad and beautiful. What are your impressions?

NZ: The formation, structure and melody of the music was very Kurdish as were the words and narrative. All the songs were about Diasporas in a sense, and the fact that there is no home to go back to. They are here as visitors and it isn’t their home, so everything was very Kurdish. On the other hand, it’s very Yezidi because it only exists among them now.

Also, the Yezidis get together for formal social gatherings twice in Armenia. One is for weddings and the other is for funerals. There are informal gatherings, of course, but these two events are very formal although there is no formal invitation as such. It’s an obligation and it was nice to see people from other villages as well as Yerevan attend.

OK: There were also some Armenians in attendance and the toasts at the mean after the funeral were in both Kurmanji [Kurdish] and Armenian. They were about two nations, which I assume Armenians and Yezidi or Kurds or whatever.

NZ: It was said that anyone present was welcome. We are all one at this gathering.

OK: Talking of formality, you told me earlier that the music was informal and improvised. With the exception of those women that were related to the deceased who also improvised, the singer that came improvised what he sang based on what he was told about the family.

NZ: He had a piece of paper with the names of all of his relatives including those living outside of Armenia in Russia or Germany, and he used those names in his songs. Several times he mentioned a sister in Germany, and when she rang he improvised a song for her which she listened to from the other end of the phone.

OK: You recorded the music and spoke to several people, so what will you do with the audio material you gathered today?

NZ: That’s quite a complex question. I might use these tracks for different purposes and it’s hard to say when. I’m going to use them for my dissertation, of course, but I might use them in 10 years for something else. For the time being, though, I’m looking at the question of music and identity and where its place is in this culture.

OK: What is your conclusion so far?

NZ: I think I’m surrounded by lots of different thoughts and ideas which I can only describe for now as something beautiful.

I’m including some digital color images taken during yesterday’s funeral although most of the material I shot was on black & white film that will likely be published as a photostory on Hetq Online in the coming days.

Yezidi Funeral, Alagyaz, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006