Syrian Kurdish singing talent show for children launched in Kobani
KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – 12-year-old Hevin Ali, from northern Syria’s Kurdish city of Kobani, waits eagerly for the results of the first stage of the children’s singing talent competition “Stêrkên Rojê,” or Stars of the Day.
A month ago, artists in Kobani launched a talent show on social media, similar to the singing competition shows The Voice Kids and Kurdistan’s Kids Voice.
Hevin Ali sent a clip of herself singing to the program, filmed on her mother’s mobile phone.
“I always wished to participate in singing competitions, like those we watch on TV,” Ali said.
The competition organizers said that the child’s age should be between four and 18 years, without specifying language for the songs.
The competition is divided into four stages, the first of which began on August 5 and continued until September 5, and the rest of the stages will be distributed over a period of one month to count the votes and select the distinguished, according to the competition’s organizers.
141 children from the Kobani, Afrin, and Jazira regions, as well as those from the diaspora in Europe, participated in the competition.
Rodin Baderkhan, mother of the eight-year-old Jynaf Khalil, believes that organizing a program during this period supports children psychologically in addition to encouraging their talents.
“Children have been deprived of education, friends, and cultural activities after the closure of kindergartens and institutes of education and talent in addition to the cancellation of all cultural activities as a result of the coronavirus outbreak in the region,” she said.
The evaluation committee, consisting of four artists, accepted all the voices and clips that reached them, according to artist Saadoun Kobani, one of the committee’s members.
“Our goal is to make the children happy; those who have lived through war and unstable situation, in addition to the current situation of the epidemic,” Kobani said.
“In the second stage, the committee will select 50 voices out of 141,” Kobani said.
25 children will be selected for the third stage, and 12 children among them for the fourth. Finally, four children will be declared winners of the competition.
Kobani said the committee will give prizes, including musical instruments, to the winners, in addition to producing a video clip song for the top winner, and supporting others financially.