Afrin IDPs hold singing festival in camps
ALEPPO COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, the activities of the Hawar Music Festival in its third edition were concluded in Barkhodan Camp for the Afrin IDPs in the northern countryside of Aleppo, north Syria, which lasted for 14 days in three stages, with the participation of 21 contestants.
Mannan Ja’far, member of the festival’s arbitration committee, said that the criteria for choosing the best among the contestants were the performance on the stage, the voice, and then the correct pronunciation of the letters.
“There were talents with beautiful voices. They themselves did not realize the importance of their talent, so the winners of this festival will become singers with skills no less than other famous Kurdish singers,” Ja’far added.
In 2015 and 2016, the first and second editions of the Hawar Festival were held in the city of Afrin, before it was invaded and occupied by Turkey and its affiliated opposition factions in March 2018.
In the camps, which lie in the northern countryside of Aleppo, the IDPs of Afrin have continued to hold festivals they used to do in their city, such as the Mitan Theater Festival, the Leilon Film Festival and the Sama Festival for Folkloric dances.
Hannan Sido, co-chair of the Culture and Art Board, said that the continuation of festivals after the displacement of the people of Afrin is “a sign of their insistence on clinging to their culture and folklore.”
On the third and final day of the festival, the last eight participants sang, after which the arbitration committee announced the winning of three contestants, namely Mustafa Sheikho, Zeirin Ibish and Farida Tari.
Farida Tari, a festival winner, said that the winning came after several months of hard work, expressing her happiness at achieving a distinguished result.
It is scheduled that the Culture and Art Board, at its own expense, will record a song and shoot a video clip for each of the three winners, according to Sido.
The city of Afrin and its environs in northwest Syria have been occupied by Turkey and its affiliated armed opposition factions since March 2018.