Dengbejs, who continue their work within the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, sang their folk songs, which they kept alive a tradition of thousands of years, with "acapella" music performed only with human voices.
The Metropolitan Municipality continues its efforts to protect and promote the Dengbej tradition, which forms the basis of Kurdish oral literature.
The Department of Culture and Social Affairs works to transfer dengbej, which is the narration of legendary loves, nature, pain, sadness, and often the lament for the departed, through folk songs called "stran", to future generations, to be adopted by young people, and to draw attention to this culture on national and international platforms. carried out.
In this context, 2 dengbej, 6 of whom are women, who continue this tradition in the Dengbej House and surrounding provinces, sang their folk songs with the "acapella" music type, in which only the human voice is used, without any instruments.
In the work called "Dengapella", the clips shot on the bastions on the Diyarbakır Walls, which are registered as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, will be shared on national and international platforms. It is aimed to promote the project with concerts in different regions.
“We carried out work to synthesize East and West”
Head of the Department of Culture and Social Affairs, Mehmet Mesut Tanrıkulu, said that dengbej sessions are held every day except Mondays at the Dengbej House, thus introducing the culture of the region to local and foreign guests.
Tanrıkulu stated that, as a result of their initiatives as a municipality, 2022 dengbejs in the Dengbej House were given "Artist Identification Cards" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 13, and stated that they frequently organize tours for the dengbejs to perform their art.
Tanrıkulu stated that they are working to transfer dengbej to future generations and said:
“When we look at acapella, it seems close to the dengbej culture. Acapella is a vocal art form that originated as a church hymn in Medieval Europe and later gained a place in world art. What it has in common with Dengbej is that a cappella, just like our dengbej, is an art performed without music, only with voice. We carried out such a study in order to synthesize East and West. We took dengbej from the East and acapella from the West, blended them beautifully and presented them to our citizens. In this way, we will introduce our dengbej culture to the West.”
Stating that dengbej is an ancient tradition of approximately 1000 years, Tanrıkulu said that 6 clips were shot in the project, in which 14 dengbej and 3 acapella artists took part, during the 6-month work.
Tanrıkulu stated that the clips were shot in the historical Diyarbakır Walls and said, "With this project, we wanted to show that Eastern and Western art can be done beautifully on a common ground and to introduce our dengbej art to the whole world." he said.
“A work that pleases the ears of young people”
Dengbej Seyithan Koç, who took part in the project, explained that they wanted to introduce the dengbej culture to the whole world.
Stating that he has been performing this art at Dengbej House for about 17 years and that local and foreign guests visit them, Koç stated that the guests liked the folk songs they sang.
Explaining that they brought acapella and dengbej together with the project of the Metropolitan Municipality, Koç said:
“Dengbej people's ears are sensitive, Dengbej people are poets and they attach importance to music. We had no difficulty doing this, we adapted immediately. It was a very different and beautiful work. We plan to expand this project from now on. This is a work that pleases the ears of young people. We think that thanks to 'Dengapella', young people's ears will be prone to dengbej."