Dilan Babat

 

MUŞ - Dengbej women, carriers of oral tradition, continue to offer insight into history with their klam(s). Gurbet, one of Dengbej women, verbalizes all experienced grief through klam(s) and she says she will not give up singing even the male sovereign system says it is ‘shame’.

 

Dengbej is an oral tradition in which vast canons of stories, legends and historical events have been passed down from singer to singer. The songs Dengbej sing are called ‘klam’ in Kurdish. Dengbej, one of the most common of oral history cultures, is carried into future by women around every corner of Kurdistan. Gurbet Erkol, who lives in Bulanık district of Muş province, has building the past and future with klam(s) since she was a child. Gurbet has taken this legacy from her mother and she has singed klam(s) since she was 10.

 

Gurbet explains the reason for singing klam(s) as her love for Kurdistan. Stating that she is fighting ongoing grief with her voice, Gurbet thinks she offers insight into history with klam (s). Saying that the women singing klam (s) are accused of ‘shameful’ for singing, Gurbet added, “My klams are arising from my longing for Kurdistan. Whenever I sing klam, the women like it very much. They say my voice is like Şehribana Kurdi’s voice.”

 

‘Men cannot tolerate Dengbej women’

 

Sating that there are many Dengbej women in Kurdistan, Gurbet said that the men are trying to silence women because they cannot tolerate the women’s voice. Gurbet said, “All songs I sing are for Kurdistan and my people. I learned how to sing klam (s) from my mother. The klam (s) I sing are legacy from my mother. I will keep singing klam (s) even if the Dengbej women are silenced by men.”