WOMEX 21 Artist Award granted to Aynur Doğan

* Photo: From Aynur Doğan's archive

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Worldwide Music Expo (WOMEX) has announced that it has granted the WOMEX 21 Artist Award to Aynur Doğan.

Introducing the musician to its audience, the WOMEX has underlined that "as both a Kurd and an Alevi, Aynur Doğan's cultural heritage has always been subject to discriminatory laws and public persecution."

"With her music, however, singer and bağlama player Doğan – now usually known simply as Aynur – creates space for her identities and for those that share them," the WOMEX has said, briefly adding:

"At its core, Aynur's music is based on Kurdish folk songs. Her voice – in turns bold and powerful or delicate, almost fragile – always holds these centuries-old melodies in tender embrace.

"She carries these songs as a caretaker and a friend. She preserves the Kurdish and Alevi songs against those that would have them silenced, but at the same time, those songs give her the strength to continue as a commanding voice in support of those cultures.

This popularity and her outspoken nature has made her the target of right-wing and anti-Kurd groups in Turkey. Her shows became marred by disruptions, leading Aynur to move her base to Amsterdam in 2012."

In explaining the reasons for granting the WOMEX 21 Artist Award to Aynur Doğan, the WOMEX has said: "It is for her long-term dedication to the preservation and innovation of Kurdish and Alevi culture, for maintaining the highest artistic integrity in the face of political pressure and, in doing so, for being a model for all that sing against the silencers, that Aynur Doğan is a very worthy recipient of the WOMEX 21 Artist Award."

Doğan has also announced that she has been granted the award on social media: "One of the most important steps of my journey of music began with WOMEX in 2006. WOMEX, the biggest international music expo where the heart of the world's music beats, has deemed me the worthy recipient of the 2021 artist award. I would like to share my happiness with you." (RT/SD)