Kurdish music
Part of Kurdish culture
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Through Armenians, Composer and Human voice
Kurdish music appeared in phonographs in the late 1920s, when music companies in Baghdad began recording songs performed by Kurdish artists.
Despite being secondary to vocals, Kurds use many instruments in traditional music. Musical instruments include the tembûr (see Kurdish tanbur), saz, qernête, daf, duduk, kaval, long flute (şimşal), kemenche, oboe (zirne) and drum (dahol).
Definition
Traditional Kurdish music is culturally distinct from Arabic, Armenian and Turkish music, and mostly composed by people who remained anonymous. Thematically, the music were of melancholic and elegiac character, but has since then incorporated more upbeat and joyous melodies.
Kurdish folklore consists of three genres: the storytellers (çîrokbêj), bards (dengbêj) and popular singers (stranbêj).
Moreover, there are religious-themed songs (lawje) seasonal musical topics, for example "payizok" that are songs about the return to the summer pastures performed in autumn. Kurdish improvisations are called teqsîm.
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Prohibition
In Iraq, tolerance for Kurdish music ceased with the Saddam regime (1979–2003) which put in place restrictions against Kurdish culture. Between 1982 and 1991 the performance and recording of songs in Kurdish was also banned in Turkey.

