Duhok Dance Festival Panelists
Nasser Razazi
Eastern Kurdistan Dance, Specifically in the Ardalan Region
Nasser Razzazi is a Kurddish singer, poet, and writer, from the Kurdish city of Sna (Sanandaj) in East Kurdistan. His music spans many genres, musical styles, and different dialects of Kurdish, including Soranî (Central Kurdish), Kurmancî (Northern Kurdish), Hewramî (Gorani) and Kelhurî (Southern Kurdish). Alongside his music, he has also made great contributions to Kurdish literature and art through his poetry and writings. He has had a significant impact on the propagation of Kurdish language through his music and poetry.
Jan Dost
Kurdish Dance in the Epic of Mem and Zin
Born in the Kurdish city of Kobanî in West Kurdistan, Jan Dost is a renowned Kurdish author, poet, and translator who has authored multiple novels in both Kurdish and Arabic. Of his notable works are Kela Dimdimê (The Citadel of Dimdim), Mîrname, Safe Corridor, A Green Bus Leaves Aleppo, and many more, some of which have been translated into Italian, Turkish, Persian and Spanish. Much of his work reflects on themes of Kurdish identity and struggles, including the destruction and war that has plagued Syria and the Kurdish cities of West Kurdistan in the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Jan Dost has made a significant impact on Kurdish literature, helping solidify Kurdistan’s position on the world map.
Dr. Qutbuddin Sadiq
Roots and Heritage of Traditional Kurdish Dance
Dr. Qutbuddin Sadiqi is a prominent Kurdish theater director, playwright, and stage and film actor from the city of Sanandaj (Sna) in East Kurdistan. With a Master’s degree in Dramatic Arts and a Doctorate degree from Sorbonne University in Paris, Dr. Qutbuddin is a long-standing scholar of Kurdish arts. He has been teaching theater in universities in Iran for over three decades and schooled many renowned actors. He has written and directed tens of plays – a mix of classic plays by famous playwrights such as Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Molière, as well as his original works. Dr. Sadiqi has made significant contributions to promoting Kurdish culture. He established Honar Theater Group in the early 1980s, one of the most prominent artistic theater groups in Iran. He also led the first group of dancers from Eastern Kurdistan to international festivals, contributing to the development and promotion of Kurdish arts and culture across the world
Omid Zarei
Dance In an International Perspective
Omid Zarei is a Kurdish artist, filmmaker, photographer, and Kurdish dance instructor from the city of Bana in East Kurdistan. He is currently leading Avin Dance Group and has made significant contributions to the preservation of the Kurdish heritage through dance and other art forms. Furthermore, he has served as a judge in the International Festival Happy Planet in Armenia, which serves to advance cultural development and exchange among different nations. Omid Zarei is an active artist in the fields of theater, cinema, photography, and painting, and has played a significant role in introducing Kurdish traditional dance to a global audience.
Lezgin Chali
The Role of Dance in Sufism
Dr. Lazgin Chali from South Kurdistan is a medical doctor, linguist, writer and translator. He serves as a member of the Broad of Trustees of the American University of Kurdistan in Duhok as well as on the Linguistic Committee of the Kurdish Institute of Paris. Dr. Lazgin Chali has acted as a Director General of Planning and Health Education in the Ministry of Health and Social Affair in the Kurdistan Regional Government and is one of the founding members of Kurdistan24, a Kurdish broadcast news station. He has done much to promote and preserve the Kurdish language and linguistic heritage through his efforts.. He has also published dozens of books and articles, educating broad audiences on topics of the Kurdish language, health, and education.
Muayad Tayib
Dance in Our Lives
Muayyad Tayeb is a Kurdish poet, linguist, writer, and journalist from Duhok in South Kurdistan. His poems and writings have been published in many Kurdish newspapers and magazines, and have been translated to several languages, including Arabic, Persian, English, and Turkish. He is known for his patriotic and revolutionary poems, many of which have been turned into songs by major Kurdish artists. He was a member of the Kurdish Writers Union in South Kurdistan and is currently a member of the Kurdish Writers Union in Sweden. Muayyad Tayeb is currently the director of Spirez Publishing House.
Roshan Lezgin
Govend in the Diyarbakır Region
Roshan Lezgin is an award-winning writer, poet, journalist, and translator from the village of Licê in Amed (Diyarbakır), North Kurdistan. He studied Turkish Language and Literature and has been a writer since 1996. He has published 19 books and translated 20 books, and has published his work in Kurdish in the dialects of Kurmanci and Zazaki as well as in Turkish. He was the editor and publisher of the first Zazaki newspaper, Newepel, the literary art magazine Sewçila, founded the website zazaki.net, and the Rosna Publishing House. Themes of sadness, the pain of separation (absence of the father), the position of women in society and women’s problems, and love for Diyarbakır are present in his writing
Sayyed Ahmad Tawakuli
The Relationship between Dance and Society
Sayyed Ahmad Tawakuli is a Kurdish writer and Kurdish language teacher from East Kurdistan.
