Following their displacement, Afrin s IDP girls reestablish their band
Aleppo – North-Press Agency
Dejla Khalil
Girls as young as 18 have reunited their band in displacement camps, to continue their learning and passion for music, in fulfilling the dream of their martyred colleague Hiva, who lost her life by the Turkish bombardment on their city of Afrin, in the northwest of the country in early 2018.
Their band takes part in all cultural and artistic activities; they participate in all cultural activities and festivals in the areas of Afrin IDPs in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
The band, named “Martyr Hiva” consists of 13 girls aged between 11-17, as they perform singing and playing musical instruments such as violin, buzuq and drum.
Young girls gather in “Sardam” camp during holidays and after school to continue their training in playing and singing, where they sing different types of traditional and revolutionary songs in groups, in addition to solo singing.
Prior to the restructuring of the Golden Crescent Movement (an autonomous administration institution for the cultural training of women), the girls used to meet at the home of one of them to form the building block of the band.
Zilan Sido, an administrative director of the band told North-Press that each member of the band came from a different place in the region of Afrin, stressing that this prompted them to “reunite the girls’ diaspora in one division, in addition to the participation of new members, we trained them playing and singing in all aspects”.
Sido noted that the levels of the girls vary, where the members of the first band who have already joined the band teach and educate the new ones who have recently joined the band.
Sido explained that they were working on a song in English, expressing their appeal to “bring peace in Afrin and stop the war”.
Zilan Sido who a singer in the band said that she was delighted to join the band, saying: “I fill my free time after school with singing in the band, when we go up the stage and perform, we see the interaction and high spirits of the audience which affect us well”.
Singing and music for most members of the band is “a way to bring out their pain and sorrow while they are in IDP camps”, this is what was expressed by Nobehar Sulaiman, saying: “We bring out our pain by songs in an effort to get our voice to the world”.
Dejla Khalil
Girls as young as 18 have reunited their band in displacement camps, to continue their learning and passion for music, in fulfilling the dream of their martyred colleague Hiva, who lost her life by the Turkish bombardment on their city of Afrin, in the northwest of the country in early 2018.
Their band takes part in all cultural and artistic activities; they participate in all cultural activities and festivals in the areas of Afrin IDPs in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
The band, named “Martyr Hiva” consists of 13 girls aged between 11-17, as they perform singing and playing musical instruments such as violin, buzuq and drum.
Young girls gather in “Sardam” camp during holidays and after school to continue their training in playing and singing, where they sing different types of traditional and revolutionary songs in groups, in addition to solo singing.
Prior to the restructuring of the Golden Crescent Movement (an autonomous administration institution for the cultural training of women), the girls used to meet at the home of one of them to form the building block of the band.
Zilan Sido, an administrative director of the band told North-Press that each member of the band came from a different place in the region of Afrin, stressing that this prompted them to “reunite the girls’ diaspora in one division, in addition to the participation of new members, we trained them playing and singing in all aspects”.
Sido noted that the levels of the girls vary, where the members of the first band who have already joined the band teach and educate the new ones who have recently joined the band.
Sido explained that they were working on a song in English, expressing their appeal to “bring peace in Afrin and stop the war”.
Zilan Sido who a singer in the band said that she was delighted to join the band, saying: “I fill my free time after school with singing in the band, when we go up the stage and perform, we see the interaction and high spirits of the audience which affect us well”.
Singing and music for most members of the band is “a way to bring out their pain and sorrow while they are in IDP camps”, this is what was expressed by Nobehar Sulaiman, saying: “We bring out our pain by songs in an effort to get our voice to the world”.