Culture

Traditional Nazdar Heyran cafe aims to be a cultural hub for Kurdish culture in Erbil

“Heyran singers call their beloved ‘Nazdar Heyran’. Since we are running a cultural center, we found the title Nazdar Heyran to be most fitting.”

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2022/03/04 20:02

The Nazdar Heyran cafe aims to be a cultural hub in Erbil (Photo: Wladimir van Wilgenburg/Kurdistan 24).

Kurdistan Nazdar Heyran café Kurdish music tradition

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The traditional Kurdish Nazdar Heyran café opened more than one year ago aims to be a cultural hub in Erbil for Kurdish culture and literature.

The café is filled with Kurdish symbols, paintings of famous Kurdish leaders and artists, and many books. It also has a signpost to the different cities of Greater Kurdistan.

“Nazdar Heyran refers to its relation with Kurdish folklore and literature. In Kurdish music pieces that are called ‘Heyran’ style, we continue hearing Nazdar Heyran,” Rebin Fetah, the manager of Nazdar Heyran café, told Kurdistan 24.

Nazdar Heyran cafe in Erbil #Kurdistan https://t.co/5HDKu7euli pic.twitter.com/IzwYtlTnSI
— Wladimir (@vvanwilgenburg) January 4, 2022

“In the Hawler (Erbil) region, Heyran pieces are special in the local culture, similar to the Mukriyan region (in Iranian Kurdistan),” he said. “Heyran singers call their beloved ‘Nazdar Heyran’. Since we are running a cultural center, we found the title Nazdar Heyran to be most fitting.”

According to Fetah, Nazdar Heyran is a cultural hub, and Erbil needs more such centers.

“One of the issues in Erbil is that it lacks sufficient cultural centers, that if they existed, they could have well served our culture,” he said. “We are trying to improve that here in Nazdar Heyran, and our center is new, a little over a year old – and most of that time was impacted by COVID restriction.”

“The opening of our center coincided with the spread of COVID, which caused closure for some time,” he added. “Most of our work has been done in the past 4-5 months after the restrictions were lifted.”

“As a cultural center, we are exhibiting the pictures of Kurdish artists, especially renowned poets – some are from Bashur (Iraqi Kurdistan), Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan), and others from Bakur (Turkish Kurdistan) and Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan).”

The manager said they also aim to hold performances by the Kojen band in Erbil, which was established with the help of Nazdar Heyran.

Lovely real Kurdish Nazdar Heyran cafe pic.twitter.com/jIwN7I4jQy
— Wladimir (@vvanwilgenburg) June 22, 2021