In Turkey, Kurdish Singers Keep Traditional Music Alive
For centuries, dengbej songs served as news bulletin, history lesson and evening's entertainment all in one. Master singers continue to perform. But efforts to preserve Kurdish culture have suffered.
A late March snow descends on a modest farmhouse in central Anatolia. An oil stove hisses away inside, as afternoon gives way to twilight.
A heavyset man with a thick black mustache adjusts his cap, takes a deep breath and fills the room with a piercing, impassioned cry. The small audience settles back for an evening of traditional dengbej singing.
For centuries, dengbej songs served as a combination news bulletin, history lesson and evening's entertainment. Master singers built up
