Payiz Ensemble – Kurdish Tradition – Iraq

The skin on the lute trembles like living flesh

Jalal Al Din Rumi

The Kurdish soul lies between Persian heritage and Sufi inspiration, in the heart of Iraqi Kurdistan, a land now in crisis. Here its legendary sacred poetry is revived.

Since independence, the cultural capital of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan has seen a musical renaissance resulting in the proliferation of performing artists such as the Payiz Ensemble.

The powerful resonance of the great dafs (frame drums), with their moon-like shape evoking the circle of life, creates the kind of heroic jubilation so dear to the people of the Orient, reflecting the ritual nobility of Persian music.

The balaban, an oboe of pastoral origin and the equivalent of the Armenian duduk, soars above like an eagle of the mountains producing magnificent acoustic landscapes. Its tone oscillates between sensuality and tension, representing the passionate sentiment of the Kurdish soul. Such fervour is also found in the deep, guttural voices of the singers of the group, in the manner of the ashiqs, the poets and bards of old.