SYRIA • IBRAHIM KEIVO

Ibrahim Keivo's singing illustrate the wondering multi-ethnicity of the Jezireh, this region of the Syrian Mesopotamia where Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Kurds, Syriacs and Armenians live side by side and share their songs and music. Ibrahim Keivo comes from an Armenian family who escaped the genocide. From a very early age he learned to play the lutes of the region: buzuq, saz, baghlama, ‘ûd and jumbush. With his astounding knowledge of languages – he is equally at ease in Botani and Kurmandji Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian, Turkish and the various Arabic dialects of the region – Ibrahim Keivo travels through the villages of Jezireh to collect a vast repertoire of songs from the elders: lullabies, dance songs, love songs, epic songs, and religious songs that he performs with remarkable attention to the style specific to each of these cultures.