Kiği

Although he now lives in the Istanbul district of Gazi Mahallesi, an area popular with Alevi Kurds, Kiği is the name of the village in eastern Anatolia where Ali Doğan Gönültaş was born. The songs on this powerful album were collected in and around the village by Gönültaş over the course of a number of years. They are sung in various Kurdish languages – Kurmancî, Kırdaskî and Zazaki, Gönültaş’ mother tongue – as well as Turkish and Armenian, who were once the majority population there. The two Armenian songs are ‘Mi lar Mayram’, a lament for a girl ‘married off at a young age’ and ‘Bar Elek’, a favourite song at old Armenian weddings in Kiğı.

Gönültaş sings and plays the saz-like tanbur, an instrument considered sacred and played in Alevi ceremonies. The song ‘Yandı Yürek’ sets 17th-century lyrics about divine love with a fervent intensity against fingernails scratching the tanbur strings. Most of the rest are regular love songs – actually they’re rather more about longing than love. The standout song is ‘Entercîme’ (Dress Seller) which is about a merchant abducting a village headman’s daughter.

The songs are accompanied by tanbur, saz, clarinet, mey ( duduk) and drums. Apart from being a tasty selection of songs, this album is an affectionate and valuable portrait of Kiği and its cultural history.