Jinê

Saîdê Goyî is a Turkish Kurdish musician and a dengbêj, or minstrel. He’s certainly got a strong and striking voice. Having sung in his native region of southeastern Turkey for years, he was persuaded to record a debut EP, Stranên Dilê Min (Song of My Heart), in 2022 and this is the full-length follow up. ‘Jinê’ apparently means both life and woman in the Kurmancî Kurdish language.

The album is arranged by fellow Kurdish musician Ali Doğan Gönültaş, who also plays the plucked tanbur. The opening title song is striking with a rich cello introduction and accompaniment. It’s a powerful dialogue of voice and cello with a little percussion. Elsewhere the instrumentation is more traditional with tanbur and shawm-like zurna and mey and percussion. Saîdê Goyî’s voice is, of course, the highlight, but it sounds too high in the mix which makes the six tracks a slightly wearing listen. The digital files have a useful English summary of each song and full lyrics in Kurdish.