Gender-Power Relations in Traditional and Transborder Kurdish Music

Musikkulturen im Fokus, Bd. 5

Parang Farazmand

ISBN 978-3-8325-6038-6
2 Bände, 550 Seiten, Erscheinungsjahr: 2026
Preis: 98.00 €

Drawing on extensive ethnog­raphic work, rare archival materials, and personal interactions with singers, instru­mentalists, composers, and dancers, the study decribes how sound, performance, and embodiment are arenas in which power and authority are negotiated, chal­lenged, and redefined across genders. In detailed case studies of female, male, and queer Kurdish musicians, and through transcription and analysis of traditional local genres, dances, and instruments, it reveals the constraints shaping Kurdish musical life, and the creative ways in which artists have overcome them.

The author also examines how the environment of the Swedish diaspora has fostered the creation of an imagined, unified Kurdish nation, Great Kurdistan, and devel­oped modern Kurdish feminism in Kurdish diasporic music. The study offers a nuanced view of Kurdish cultural expression, demonstrating how music shapes social identities and futures in both traditional and transnational contexts. It also explores how music reflects and transforms gendered experiences, emphasizing that sound, like identity, is fluid, contested, and inherently political in this setting.