Kurdish-Swedish artist releases Vocapella album

Vocapella or A cappella is specifically group or solo singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Kurdistan24) – Kurdish poet, singer, and composer Hamid Sharifi released a Vocapella album in June, consisting of 14 tracks.

Vocapella or A cappella is specifically group or solo singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way.

All the tracks on this album are soft whispers, in contrast with folklore songs, but one track is recorded in a loud voice.

“I wanted to say we can speak softly to each other unless we really have to be loud. That’s my message,” Sharifi told Kurdistan24.

A former Peshmerga and current assistant nurse, Sharifi said his life without his verses and melodies would be intolerable.

Stockholm-based Sharifi was born in 1972 in Sena (Sanandaj), Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat) and started his love affair with words and music in 2000.

His poems had been translated into Swedish and received attention from the Swedish literary community.

His latest work about the rights of homosexuals marked a new era in his songwriting, taboo-breaking, and attention to broader social issues.

Sharifi, who had lost a brother in the fight for liberation in Rojhilat, joined the Peshmerga forces in 1996.

In 2000, when seeking asylum in Turkey, he started writing poetry as a means to tackle hardships.

“My songs and poems were confessional. My little notebook was the only place where I could be myself. My verses always have a melody in my head,” Sharifi told Kurdistan24 over the phone.

When he was arrested in Turkey for being an illegal immigrant, his only possession was the little notebook containing his words.

“I tried to convince the policeman to allow me to hold on to my little diary but he grasped it and threw it in the heater,” he said.

As Sharifi watched the flames devouring his soul’s words, he was not sure if he should scream or shed tears.

“If I had lost a billion dollars, I would not have experienced that level of panic,” he said.

Arrested by police in Greece and deported to Turkey and later to a Kurdistan Region prison, Sharifi sheltered in poetry to survive physical and psychological agonies.

“We were 80 people in one small room, each with the right to a small space and fighting to hide weakness,” he explained.

“Humiliated and lonely, missing my son Rajan terribly, I looked up at the ceiling so tears would not fall down and betray me,” Sharifi remembered.

He was about to fail the struggle when verses appeared in his head. That was the moment he realized poetry was more than a hobby. It was his savior, Sharifi added.

Words turned into weapons by which he fought fear and desperation.

When released from prison, Sharifi settled in Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, where he worked at a quarterly called “Metmana” (Assurance) which he said was praised for its design as well as its content.

In 2006, he also worked as a radio presenter and helped create documentaries for Rojhilat TV.

In 2008, Sharifi started a new life in Sweden where he began work as a nursing assistant, mostly helping patients who suffered from Alzheimer’s. He said the lifestyle was inducive to creativity.

“The peace that I experience now has helped me create quality work,” Sharifi explained. “I now write in Kurdish, Farsi, and Swedish, and I am looking for publishers.”

You can download the album on iTunes or Amazon, or purchase it from Sena or Sulaimani.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany