‘Master of Kurdish music’ Egide Cimo dies at 87
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdish artist Egide Cimo died in a hospital in the city of Yerevan in Armenia at the age of 87 last week. Cimo played a huge role in the preservation of Kurdish culture in exile through Radio Yerevan and his music.
Cimo, a Yezidi (Ezidi) Kurd, was born in the Erdeser village in Armenia. He was a well-known composer at Radio Yerevan for 35 years.
His family is originally from Van, a town in southeastern Turkey, known as northern Kurdistan among Kurds. His family migrated to Armenia in 1918.
From early on, he learned to play the traditional flutes such as Bilur, Zurna, and Duduk (which is also known as mey in Kurmanci, and balaban in Sorani). He started to work for Radio Yerevan in 1995, which became a home for Kurdish musicians in exile.
According to Dr. Nahro Zagros, Vice President of Soran University, the Ezidi Kurds in Armenia established broadcasting in Kurdish in the diaspora in the 1950s, as well as the first Kurdish cinema film in 1972. This was at a time when Kurdish culture and language was banned in Turkey.
“There are a number of reasons that Kurds all over Kurdistan owe to the Yezidi community in Armenia and how they protected, preserved and revived Kurdish culture altogether,” Zagros said.
“One of the main actors in terms of music was Egide Cimo because he was a catalyst person to bring in so many talented singers and also discovering talented singers to come and sing in radio broadcasting on Radio Yerevan.”
He played a role in the music of Kurdish singers such as Xerabete Xaco, Efroye Esed, Eslika Qadir, Suska Simo, and Xana Zaze. But he also inspired new singers such as Aynur Dogan, Delil Delinar, and others.
