Kurdish Culture Regales Crowds at California Festival
By Joshua Thaisen, published @Rudaw
United States — American Kurds gathered at a weekend international festival in California to promote Kurdish culture and celebrate ethnic diversity from around the world, even as Iraqi and Syrian Kurds back home find themselves in the frontlines of a global war against the Islamic State (IS or ISIS). The Kurdish community of Southern California was represented at two booths at Saturday’s festival in the city of Irvine, one run by the Kurdish American Society and the other in the world religions tent, where the ancient Kurdish culture of Yaresan – from ancient Persia and Iraq -- was on display. “I’m very proud to introduce my culture to other people from around the world, said Murat Daslik, who captivated the festival crowd – estimated at 30,000 -- with songs from the different parts of Kurdistan. “People don’t know too much about Kurdistan, but it’s rich in history. The first civilizations start there but many people don’t even know where it is!” Daslik said after the performance at the Global Village Festival. “Kurdish music comes with a huge deep soul, it affects culture, it affects people’s lifestyle and it affects how they feel, too. Even our happy songs have a history. That history can be really bad, but it’s still happy to dance,” he added. Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur, who is originally from Iranian Kurdistan, agreed that the festival was a wonderful way to discover other cultures. “The festival will open our eyes to multiculturalism, to diversity and to different points of view,” he said. “Once we take down the cultural barriers we have clothed ourselves in, we will eventually bind together to become an interconnected culture.” Traditional garments, kilims, maps and paintings from the different parts of Kurdistan were aimed at educating the culturally diverse crowd about Kurds, a nation of some 30 million scattered over northern Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. Nineteen-year-old Korean Jiwoo Yee said the festival had opened a window on Kurdish culture. “I think it is important to see cultures outside of what the news shows us. I didn’t know about Kurdistan until recently in the news, and I didn’t know anything about their culture until today; I like their music very much,” the exchange student said. More than 50 cultures were represented at the festival, including Turks, Armenians, Persians, Iraqis, Israelis, and Palestinians. The festival was established in 1998 to promote understanding and build harmony among cultures.
