Choir adds Kurdish song to repertoire

HATAY – Anatolia News Agency

The Antakya Civilizations Choir performs concerts in Turkey and the world with its 120 members from various professions and three religions.

The Antakya Civilizations Choir, composed of 120 people representing Turkey and the eastern province of Hatay in national and international organizations, has enriched its repertoire with Kurdish songs in order to share a message of peace and friendship. The choir says its mission is to spread the tolerance and peaceful environment of Hatay to the whole world.

Antakya Civilizations Choir Association Chairman Yılmaz Özfırat said they will perform two Kurdish songs, “Dar Hejiroke” (You are a fig tree) and “Dew Dew” (Ayran) in their upcoming concerts.

Rehearsals started

Özfırat said they had started rehearsing the two songs, adding, “The choir, which was formed in 2007, became an association in 2008. The choir is made up of people from different groups such as priests, teachers, drapers, jewelers, students, lawyers, etc.

The choir has so far performed nearly 200 concerts for audiences such as the United Nations Security Council in New York, the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C., the EU Parliament and cities including Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Vienna and Zurich in addition to cities in Turkey.”

Özfırat said that their philosophy was “peace at home, peace in the world.”

“We try to draw people to peace and beauty. We have added the Kurdish songs to our repertoire although we don’t have a Kurdish citizen in our choir because we want to be useful to humanity. We want to perform in various southeastern provinces like Diyarbakır and Van in the coming days.”