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Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Azad Zahawy
Location: London
Instruments: daf / tombak / dohol
Music: Kurdish folk
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Listen to Azad Zahawy in the World on Your Street tent at WOMAD 2003
'All of us play daf and some other drums like the dohol, which is a circular drum with two skins.'
How I came to this music:
I'm 33 now, and I grew up in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan in a small city called Khanaqin, which is near the border with Iran. I started learning as a child with my big brother Hawar, from my grandfather. He's a dervish Sufi musician and he plays daf and sings. But in Iraq they don't wear those white costumes or spin around in circles like dervish dancers in Syria and Turkey. The way that they pray and show respect to God in Iraq is by playing the daf frame drum with a lot of spirit and singing some special ancient songs. So we inherited this type of performing art.
That was the first step, but we also chose the academic way as well, such as learning how to write the music and the system of notation they use for percussion. I attended special classes with many of the best Kurdish and Iranian musical tutors to improve my skills.
In 1990 I came to England to seek asylum because I had some political problems and that's also when I started performing professionally. I play with my younger brother Hussein and the oldest, Hawar. All of us play daf and some other drums like the dohol, which is a circular drum with two skins Β one is thicker than the other, to give the bass sound and the thinner side gives a higher pitch.
Sometimes just the three of us perform as the Zahawy brothers, but also (just like the better known Kurdish group The Kamkars) when it's a big concert, we perform with singers and some other instruments. We call that group The Living Fire.
Where I play:
 Since coming here to England we've done many Kurdish and Persian concerts all over Europe and played different festivals such as Sacred Voice, WOMEX in Holland, WOMAD two years ago in Reading and another WOMAD festival in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. We've also done a few shows in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
A favourite song:
This song Zara was recorded at a concert we did last year in Sweden with a very famous Kurdish singer called Adnan Karim, when we were performing with the group Living Fire.
The text is from folklore and the song is basically talking about a guy who sings for his lover, whose name is Zara. She doesn't want to go out with him because he didn't buy her flowers or presents. She's not very happy with the boy and that's why he's annoyed.
The reason I chose this song is because it's a folk song that goes to the heart of being in love with somebody in our society. And the 6/8 dance rhythm is very active; it has lots of Kurdish spirit in it. I believe that playing music is the best way to meet the needs of people.
Azad Zahawy is a member of the group Living Fire ensemble: visit
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