BêjeBêje: New Kurdish Lyrics Site Tackles An Elusive Dream

KT Report:

BêjeBêje (‘Sing Sing’) is an ambitious new Kurdish cultural initiative: a community-driven archive that aims to become the world’s central online resource for Kurdish lyrics. Currently the website features lyrics by almost 100 artists and the founder says the database is growing steadily.

Ciwan Xelef, a web developer living in the UK, told KT why he has set up the site:

“I come from a musical family; me and many of my cousins play one or more musical instruments. Naturally we like singing along with the music, and we love getting the lyrics right!

“For the past few years I have been analysing the state of Kurdish lyric websites on the net and, after months of reviews, decided that the quality of such sites was lacking.

“I wanted to put my skills to use and help Kurds around the world with this small problem, and so I developed BêjeBêje.

BêjeBêje website screenshot

BêjeBêje website screenshot

Bêjebêje is a community driven archive in the sense that any visitor to the site can contribute to the archive by adding artists and lyrics.

“The site is less than a month old and is already getting a thousand hits a day. I take the happy view that this project was a good idea! People wanted something like this.

“The site will be in continuous development, and it will be constantly improved. We already have active users who submit lyrics daily. Nasir Rezazî seems popular!

“Taking a step back has revealed another benefit to Bêjebêje. The archive helps with that elusive dream of many talented Kurdish artists. That dream being the creation of a unified identity/feel to Kurdish music. People from Hewreman can read lyrics by Beytocan and people from Qamişlo can read lyrics by Homer Dizeyî. Beautiful!”

screenshot 2

KT editor Harem Karem has taken a look at the site and says: “This is a fantastic initiative, filling in the gap the industry has left. Very elegantly presented with good choice of colours, a simplistic approach (sometimes, ‘less is more’) and the Kurdish-Latin font used is spot on — it helps reach a wider audience, including many Kurds born in the diaspora as well as Northern Kurds unable to read Arabic alphabets/script but who can all read the Latin.

“I would definitely be a regular visitor and, where possible, a contributor too. A couple of thoughts: I would recommend some simple categorisation of the music i.e. classic, folklore, and, of course, separate the dialects too. Looking ahead, it would also be great to have soundtracks/video clips linked to each profile or at least links to You Tube. And a short paragraph of bio for each artist would be useful.

“All in all, a very good project and, with social media promotion and backing from the artists, it could potentially reach a substantial number of people worldwide”.

Ciwan says his development plans include a requests section where registered users can request lyrics to particular songs, giving the chance for other users to earn points and win prizes.

Biji BêjeBêje!

8 Responses to BêjeBêje: New Kurdish Lyrics Site Tackles An Elusive Dream
  1. Dijwar
    April 17, 2015 | 21:24

    Thank you, your publication is sure to help with that dream.

  2. Nuora
    April 17, 2015 | 21:26

    Very nice thank you 🙂

  3. Hassan
    April 17, 2015 | 21:28

    Lovely archive! Very good initiative indeed!

  4. Jandi
    April 17, 2015 | 21:28

    Thank you so much dear

  5. Kuvan Bamarny
    April 18, 2015 | 11:18

    Good contribution to the promotion of Kurdish Culture .I admire you for having such a Kurdawari spirits ,in devoting your time and skills to design such a website.Each of us can contribute some thing to shape and promote our culture.

    Each of us can be a beje beje in one way or the other,that is if it does not fall on deaf ears.

    I would promote the Kurdish art through weaving a Kurdish garment ,and you would promote it by weaving a piece of lyrics .
    I would promote Kurdish art by composing a melody,yet, you would promote it by writing literacy,pottery ,painting and epic stories of Kurdish legends.

    Regards
    Kuvan Bamarny/Duhok

  6. Monib
    April 19, 2015 | 22:56

    I wish a branch of Kurdistan TV , Kurdsat or NRT would be lunched in Nashville or Washington D.C. in near future. Will KRGs Department of Foriegn Relations fund it ? What about an English-Kurdish literature Magazine. What other good plans does KRG bear in mind to further boost its image? Read Michael Rubin’s article on ekurd.net? Southern Iraq is ahead of Kurdistan in terms of democracy now, something Kurds had gained back in 2005.

  7. Baqi
    April 20, 2015 | 01:16

    Latest News:

    The US Congress may request HE the US President to reconsider Kurdish Independence Case in South Kurdistan once the US war is over depending on circumstances.

  8. Yasin Aziz
    April 24, 2015 | 14:29

    Art is the Nation’s educator, as the ancient Greeks said. I wish that the tribal and political parties would leave this beautiful initiative for once. It is a fabulous initiative.

    Yasin Aziz author of Dum Dum Castle and
    A Few Days Life of Revolution in Halabja.
    on amazon.com
    Many Thanks

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