I am Kurdish

Sometimes moments of grace spring from conflict in a way that feels like the premise for a film or a novel. The story of Mohammad Syfkhan is one of those moments. As the title of his debut album suggests, he is a Kurd, and therefore stateless in a sense, even before conflict came to his homeland.

Born in Syria, the singer and buzuq player founded the Al-Rabie Band in the city of Raqqa in the mid-80s. When civil war engulfed his country, and one of his sons was killed at the hands of the Islamic State, Syfkhan fled as a refugee to Ireland. The moment of grace is in the coming together of two musical worlds: Syfkhan’s Middle Eastern and North African-infused wedding and party music met the Irish session, and a kinship was felt.

These eight tracks include traditional numbers mixed with songs by Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi, Kurdish Arabesk singer İbrahim Tatlıses, and the title-track by Syfkhan himself. He is accompanied on several tracks by fellow Leitrim musicians Eimear Reidy on cello and Cathal Roche on saxophone. Elegant and varied in pace, this is not simply dance music, but a rich accompaniment to your next soirée.