UN to honor Kurdish singer for empowering women

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— Kurdish pop star Helly Luv is this year’s recipient of the Empowering Women Award, a United Nation sponsored prize granted annually to women in recognition of their “outstanding contributions to empower girls and women.”

The anti-war “Revolution” hitmaker is also picked by the San Francisco World Film Festival to collect the 2016 Award for Best Music Video.    

“It is a great honor for me to carry the name of Kurdistan and Peshmarga to the festival and I couldn’t be more happy,” said the 27-year-old Luv whose “Risk It All” single made headlines after she received multiple death threats in 2014. 

The UN entity for gender equality is honoring women and girls “who have made it in their respective fields — often in uncharted territories — by overcoming barriers and beating the odds to reach their goals,” the entity states.

Defying both conventional views within Kurdish society and the frequent death threats from aggressive Islamist groups, the Kurdish beauty has been in the news for her music as much as her activism against oppressing women and her patriotic Kurdish standpoints.     

“I’m currently working with two projects; the first one is a new music video and also a new movie which is so far a secret venture,” she told Rudaw.

In Bahman Ghobadi’s 2015 film, “A Flag Without a Country”, Luv offers a memorable performance as an artist who tries to encourage the refugees fleeing from ISIS to celebrate their culture through songs and music.