"I am ruined, my house lies in ruins," sings the lyrical voice in the song "Ay Dîlberê". This layered lament brings together themes of lost love, emotional collapse and physical and spiritual homelessness. Even the great Kurdish mystic and poet Feqîyê Teyran offers no comfort here. "Ay Dîlberê" is one of ten songs to be performed this evening by musicians Adir Jan and Emrah Gökmen. Their songs recount dark love, profound yearning, loss, exile and collective memory, evoking images of plants, animals, insects and landscapes, as well as fire, water, earth and gold. They explore spirituality and patriarchal violence, all the while perpetuating a centuries-old oral tradition.
They sing in Kurmancî, a dialect of Kurdish; Zazakî, a Western Iranian language primarily spoken in Dersim, Bingöl, and Erzincan; Turkish; Arabic; and local idiomatic forms that defy clear classification within any standardised language. These expressive forms point to a polyphonic, culturally interwoven region that is part of Mesopotamia. Their voices are like shimmering rivers in the sunlight, carrying within them the wisdom of ancient currents that predate settled life and memory itself.
Adir Jan & Emrah Gökmen are artistic companions who have known each other for a long time and are united by a deep musical and creative kinship.
Born in 1984 in Berlin-Kreuzberg to Kurdish-Zaza parents, Adir Jan grew up immersed in a variety of musical idioms and cultural influences. Alongside his philology studies and political activism, he began searching for his own artistic voice, eventually merging his diverse influences into a unique style he calls 'Cosmopolitan Kurdesque'. He is a committed advocate for queer visibility, transcultural diversity, and social transformation.
Emrah Gökmen received his initial musical training at Müjdat Gezen University in Istanbul. Having lived in Germany since 2009, he draws on his experiences of growing up between Turkey and Germany. As a musician and artist, he explores themes of solidarity, transformation and resistance in his work. He has released several albums, founded the choir Kız Meslek Korosu, and is involved in various music projects in Berlin. In 2021, he completed a Fine Arts degree at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), studying in Prof. Thomas Zipp's class.
The concert by Adir Jan and Emrah Gökmen is part of Dr. Gürsoy Doğtaş’ QuiS Research Fellowship at the Städelschule throughout the winter semester 2024/25 and summer semester 2025, which explores the history of migrant labor in Germany and the cultural, activist and artistic practices associated with it. This semester, the focus is on how social power structures can be challenged through a politics of listening. The program of the QuiS Research Fellowship is made possible by the generous support of the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture.