OPEN CALL #2 PROJECT #53
RECORDING AND PUBLISHING THE FOLKLORIC ELEMENTS OF BAFÊ VILLAGE
Xerîbê
Foreign Bride Stran (song)
This video was recorded in July 2022 in the İdil district of Şırnak within the framework of the project entitled "Digital Recording and Publishing of the Folkloric Elements of Bafê Village". Source person Reqiya Silêman - Rukiye Vesek from Bafê (Sulak) village is 47 years old and has 5 children. He learned the Xeribê stran from the village environment and from his mother.
The stran (song, melody) sung by Rukiye Vesek is “Xerîbê” or “Foreign Girl or Bride”, sung in various variants from Mardin to Şengal (Sinjar) in the Kurdish oral tradition. This stran tells the sad story of a young woman who goes to another village from her own village as a bride.
The longing for the homeland is expressed as below:
“Xwezka xerîb neba, gula li ber boxça ba l'meskenê dê û bavê xwe ba”
“I wish there was no foreign country, if there was a rose in the garden of my father's house, if it was in the house of my parents”
This variant expresses the common pain of Kurdish women who -in many regions- are sent away from their father's house as brides. Due to the unique oral culture of the village of Bafê, the lyrics and chanting of the song (stran) are unique and differs from other variants.