Hozan Serhat

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Hozan Serhat , born as Süleyman Alpdoğan (born July 24, 1970 in Eleşkirt , Ağrı province ; † July 22, 1999 in the Beytüşşebap Mountains ), was a Kurdish musician in the ranks of the PKK guerrilla. He is considered one of the most popular artists of Kurdish guerrilla music.

Childhood, youth, studies and first music

Serhat's family is originally from the county town of Patnos . Serhat also spent his childhood and youth there. His father died a year after he was born. Serhat was the youngest son of the family of seven and began playing tanbur at the age of seven .

In 1985 Serhat traveled to Istanbul to record his music on cassette. Under the pseudonym Murat Esen he released his first album "Gulo" there. For a while Serhat lived in an apartment with the Turkish singer Emrah . However, due to financial difficulties, he returned to Patnos. In Patnos Serhat finally finished high school with the Abitur.

In 1988 he completed his studies in Turkish music at the Turkish State Conservatory of the Aegean University . During his student days he met his future wife Yıldız and the two married on February 23, 1991 in Çivril .

The escalation in the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and his student days influenced Serhat's political awareness. He began to examine Kurdish art within the Kurdish struggle for freedom. Due to his participation in public discussions on the Kurdish question, an arrest warrant was issued against him in 1991.

Accession to the PKK and political music

In July 1991, Serhat and his wife Yıldız joined the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). After his wife Yıldız was imprisoned and sentenced to 12½ years in prison in Amasya in Cizre , Serhat first fled to the northern Iraqi Haftanin area, near Zaxo and from there to the Mahsum Korkmaz Academy, a former PKK Camp in Lebanon .

Because of his talent and musical training, he was summoned to Europe by the PKK. There he took part in the "Association of Patriotic Musicians of Kurdistan" (Hunerkom) and became a member of the Kurdish music group Koma Berxwedan .

The ban on the Kurdish language in Turkey at the time, and thus also on Kurdish music , was legally enforced through separatism and terrorism paragraphs. The possibilities for artists to legally practice Kurdish music were limited to Europe. Nevertheless, Serhat decided to return to his homeland after four years. He is said to have commented on this decision as follows:

“Returning home is the task of a revolutionary. It's up to us to get back to our roots and prove that Kurdish culture is still alive. "

As a result, Serhat returned to the mountains in 1996 and stayed in the Zab Mountains for a few months. He later worked in the "Center of Mesopotamian Culture" in Erbil and took part in numerous cultural and social events in northern Iraq . This is also where his last album "Hewler", the Kurdish name for Erbil, was made.

death

In 1998 he was increasingly involved in skirmishes with the Turkish military . In 1999 he took part in the 6th PKK Congress and then met in the Botan area with Hüseyin Kaytan and the cameraman Halil Uysal (also: Halil Dağ), who also accompanied Serhat in his last days. In July, Serhat's group was ambushed by the Turkish army in Hakkâri province and he was captured, injured after a gun battle. On the 10th day of his capture, he was shot dead during an operation by the Turkish military in the Farasin area, Beytüşşebap district , Sirnak province .

Discography

• "Gulo" (1985–1986)
• "Hewler" (1999)