Yezidi women resist cultural erasure through music

Rana and Nada, aged 18, are two Yezidi friends.

Forced to flee Shingal when Islamic State (ISIS) militants seized their homeland in 2014, they now live at Khanke camp in Duhok province.

They are now members of an 18-member musical group in Duhok called ’40 Kezi’, making the 23 kilometer journey to Duhok every day for rehearsals.

The group was established by Kurdish cinema director Viyan Mayi in 2016.

Iran Isamat, a music teacher from Duhok, teaches 40 Kezi. She believes music can act as a form of therapy for those who have suffered violence.

"We haven’t forgotten what happened to them. That cruel war was against their culture and art. For that reason we have to rehabilitate them from all that suffering with music and songs so they can restart a new life."

 

Reporting by Hunar Rashid