MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Colemêrg - In Hakkari, where has a beautiful nature and a long history, old professions continue to be kept alive. People hold their wedding parties in open areas, mostly in their front yards, and each wedding party lasts at least two days. Hundreds of people wear their traditional dresses to join these wedding parties. 103-year-old Ayşe Üzümcü sang songs (Kurdish: lawje/stran) at these wedding parties to make a living for herself after her parents died.  

The only thing she never forgets is songs

Grandmother Ayşe lives in the Suüstü (Kurdish: Şakitan) village of Hakkari’s Yüksekova (Kurdish: Gever) district. She continues to sing lawjes despite her age. She sits in front of her house and remembers the past. She is an Alzheimer's patient and the only thing she never forgets is lawjes (songs) she sang.

“I sign lawjes whenever I am alone”

Grandmother Ayşe lost her parents when she was very young. “I was alone; there was nobody to look after me. I stood on my own legs by signing lawjes. My relatives forced me to marry a man, who had already three wives. After that man died, I was alone again. I sign lawjes whenever I am alone. They became my source of both incomes and patience.”

“Lawjes raised both me and my children”

Grandmother Ayşe told us the thing that holds her on to life is songs. “I couldn't have lived if I hadn’t sung lawjes. I couldn’t have looked after myself and my children if I hadn’t sung lawjes. Now, I sign them for myself. Sometimes, I remember my old days. If I could walk now, I would sign again. I would go to wedding parties and sign lawjes,” said grandmother Ayşe, who misses the past.