Preserving Yazidi Liturgical Music Among Displaced Syrian Communities

This encyclopedia entry surveys the current landscape of efforts to safeguard Yazidi liturgical music among Syrian Yazidi communities forced into displacement since the mid‑2010s. It draws on recent field projects, scholarly analysis, and media reports to illustrate how oral tradition, mental‑health interventions, and community‑led choirs intersect in the preservation process.

Preserving Yazidi liturgical music among displaced Syrian communities (Kurmanji: Parastina stranên qewlî yên Êzidiyan li civakên koçber ên Sûrî) refers to the systematic documentation, teaching, and performance of sacred Yazidi songs by Syrians who have fled violence and now live in camps or diaspora settings.

Pronunciation & orthography

The term is rendered in Kurmanji as Parastina stranên qewlî. In Arabic script it appears as پارستينا سترانن قەولی, and in Cyrillic (used by some diaspora writers) as Парастина стране̂н кевли. The IPA transcription is /paɾasˈti.na ˈstra.neŋ ˈqew.li/. Common English misspellings include “Qewl” instead of “qewlî” and “Stran” for “stranên”.

Main exposition

Historical background

Yazidi religious practice is fundamentally oral; sacred poems (qewl) and hymns (beyt) have been transmitted without written notation for centuries. The 2014 genocidal campaign of Daesh (ISIS) targeted Yazidi musicians and deliberately destroyed traditional instruments, jeopardising the continuity of the liturgical repertoire (Amar Foundation). The resulting displacement of hundreds of thousands of Yazidis—many of whom originated from Syrian villages such as Al‑Jazira and Qamishli—created a diaspora that risked losing its musical heritage.

Impact of displacement on Syrian Yazidis

Syrian Yazidis fled first to neighboring Iraq’s displacement camps (e.g., Khanke) and later to Turkey, Europe, and North America. In camp settings, the lack of stable rehearsal spaces and the trauma of loss made musical practice both a challenge and a therapeutic outlet. A focused case study in a Greek refugee camp highlighted that music lessons for Yazidi youths aged 11–18 fostered emotional expression and social cohesion (Millar & Warwick 2018) (source 3).

Institutional responses

Non‑governmental organisations quickly recognised music’s dual role as cultural safeguard and mental‑health intervention. AMAR International Charitable Foundation launched a music‑training programme that pairs professional Yazidi musicians with displaced learners, providing instruments, lessons, and performance opportunities (source 1). Parallelly, a British Council‑funded project, in partnership with the Yazidi Spiritual Council and the Bodleian Library, recorded over one hundred traditional songs and established a women’s choir at the Khanke camp (source 2). These initiatives explicitly aim to “record, protect and share” the oral repertoire before elder singers pass away.

Community‑led choirs

The most visible embodiment of preservation is the Yazidi women’s choir formed in Khanke in 2019. The choir, composed of survivors of ISIS captivity and widows of massacred families, rehearses sacred qewl in a modern choral arrangement while retaining traditional melodic modes. Their performances have been broadcast on national Iraqi television and featured in an NPR story titled “We Will Never Break” (source 4). Choir members report that collective singing restores a sense of identity and offers a public platform for the community’s resilience.

Music as mental‑health support

Beyond cultural transmission, music programmes are integrated into psychosocial care. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion serves as the conceptual framework for the Greek‑camp study, indicating that music practice improves self‑knowledge, positive self‑identification, and social relations (source 3). AMAR’s mental‑health services combine music‑therapy sessions with traditional counseling, illustrating a holistic approach to trauma recovery for displaced Yazidis.

In the oral tradition

Yazidi liturgical music is organized around two principal corpora: the qewl (sacred hymns) and the beyt (short devotional poems). The qewl are sung in a modal system called maqam, which is closely linked to the Yazidi cosmogony. A typical qewl begins with the invocation of Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel, and proceeds through a series of allegorical verses that encode theological concepts.

“Ez li serê çiyayê Şengalê, bi dengê Xwedê re nêz dikim” – “I stand on the mountain of Şengal, drawing nearer to God with my voice.”

This verse, recorded in the British Council archive, exemplifies how melody and meaning intertwine to reinforce communal identity (source 2).

Scholarly disagreement

Kreyenbroek argues that the distinction between “liturgical” and “secular” Yazidi music is artificial, asserting that all qewl serve a ritual function regardless of performance context (source 5). In contrast, Açıkyıldız reads the same repertoire as containing a spectrum of secular motifs—love, nature, and historical narrative—especially when performed outside formal worship (source 5). The debate influences how NGOs design recording projects: whether to prioritize strictly ritual texts or to capture the broader musical life of displaced communities.

Common misconceptions

Regional variation

While the core repertoire of qewl remains consistent, regional styles differ. In Sinjar (Iraq) the melodic ornamentation is more melismatic, whereas Syrian Yazidis historically employed a slightly faster tempo and distinct vocal timbre influenced by nearby Arabic maqamat. In Turkey’s southeastern provinces, diaspora choirs blend Kurdish folk harmonies with Yazidi chants. The Caucasus diaspora incorporates Western choral techniques, creating hybrid arrangements that still respect the original modal framework. These variations demonstrate the adaptability of liturgical music to new cultural environments while preserving its theological core.

Timeline

Data table