DELAL REMEDAN

Kobanî – For thousands of years, the existence of Kurds, particularly their culture and language, has been denied. But they have managed to preserve their culture and language until today. Especially, Kurdish women make incredible efforts to keep their culture alive.  

Kurdish songs and mewalan (plural of mewal) have preserved the culture and history of the Kurdish people for years. Each Kurdish mother tries to hold to life by narrating their grief and sorrow in songs and mewalan.

What is mewal?

Mewal is the introduction part of the songs and theatre plays. It is a short form of storytelling. We can say that mewalan are the main source in Kurdish theater, music, and culture. Every person tells mewalan in a different method without changing their contents.

Most women aged over 40, who live in the city of Kobanî, NE Syria, tell mewalan during meetings. Xedica Alo is one of these women. She loves telling mewalan, “I have told mewalan since my childhood to preserve the Kurdish culture and to keep our memory alive.”

She learned at a very young age

64-year-old Xedica Alo, who lives in the Minaze of Kobanî, told us how old women told mewalan when she was a child. She grew up by listening to the mewalan told by old women. “My uncles were famous in the village for telling mewalan. When women came together, they talked about songs. They sang old songs and told mewalan about stories, heroic legends in the region. Women woke up early to graze their animals. They told mewalan while grazing the animals. I learned how to tell mewalan from them,” Xedica Alo said.

“We should preserve our culture”

When Xecida Alo was young, she told mewalan to women in the village. “Whenever we came together, I sang songs and told mewalan. My brother and sister, who left the country due to the war, used to call me to listen to mewalan from me. The mewalan tell the grief and sorrow of the Kurdish people. The Kurdish people preserve their culture and identity through mewalan and we should preserve our culture.”