In pictures - this is how poverty turned a famous Iraqi maqamat singer into a shepherd

Sulaymaniyah

- “I do not want the life of a city in which I will be heavy on people.” Ramadan Karmyani, the famous maqamat singer in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, summed up his suffering after poverty and hardship afflicted him, to decide to leave art and work as a shepherd in a barren desert in which there is nothing but his loneliness that he sings about. And he conspires with her when his condition intensifies.

Born in 1963, Garmyani began his journey with art in 1980, and reserved a special place for himself in the Maqamat al-Hijaz, Nahawand, Bayat, Sika and others. Ali and Saber Kurdistan and many others.

Like many of his peers, Karmyani is living in difficult economic conditions after an old train crossed very long distances on the rails of life, with the increasing extent of the disease in his body, so he only found what he wanted except to graze sheep to secure a livelihood for a family of 8 members.

What is remarkable about this artist’s story is that he abandoned city life and decided to live in a small village called “Qarah Tamur” located near the main street between the cities of Chamchamal-Sinkaw within the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, and what is surprising is that this village does not have any house other than the Karmiani house, and this What increased his suffering even more was that his life became devoid of friends, companions and loved ones, as he was used to.

Poverty was not a new case today for Garimani, who grew up in a family that lived her years of poverty, which forced him not to enter school, but he learned to read and write with the passage of days through his daily practice.

Garmyani abandoned city life and decided to live in a small village (Al-Jazeera)

Choosing the hard way

This heartbreak in the soul of the Iraqi singer prompted him to sacrifice himself in order that his seven children (3 boys and 4 girls) would not live as he lived, and continue to complete their studies, so he sacrificed for them until they reached advanced ranks, so the children were able to graduate from university, One of his daughters continues her studies in the fifth stage at the Faculty of Medicine, and the others continue to complete their studies without interruption.

Garmyani now sings for his sheep after he was singing to his fans (Al-Jazeera)

"I chose a slogan: I do not want to live in a city in which I am heavy with people, and I know that it is the most difficult path for me, but there is no way for me in front of the poverty machine, and sometimes I cry from the severity of my pain and sadness for myself. My condition is similar to that of a father who is prevented from seeing his only son." Garmyani describes his case for Al Jazeera Net.

Despite his tragedy, Karmyani sees in sheep grazing, especially feeding and feeding their young, that it pushes him to sing in a youthful spirit, as it was the beginning of his artistic career, and reminds him of the rap sessions he attended with his companions, and wonders how the sheep listened to him, as if you wanted to tell him, "You have enough pain." to distribute it over the sky above us and the earth we walk on.”

Compared to art and singing, the Maqamat singer asserts that his financial situation has improved a lot after he became a shepherd, and he bemoans the loss of decades of his life.

Garmyani is forced to work as a shepherd to provide for his family (Al-Jazeera)

see death

"Like a candle that melts quietly in complete darkness to illuminate the path for fear that little birds will lose their way towards their mother to the wolf's den," this is how the eldest son, Maha Best Ramadan (31 years), describes his father, the maqamat singer, and adds, "I am very tired of feeling and seeing my father becoming a shepherd as a singer. Famed".

The son says with some heartbreak and pain when he sees his father emaciated but forced to work to secure a livelihood for his brothers and sisters that "this situation is like death in itself."

Ramadan wonders about the reasons why his father does not enjoy a luxurious life, like many male and female singers in the region, even though they do not have long experience in art or singing like his father.

Jazay Saz called on the concerned authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan to respect and appreciate art and artists (Al-Jazeera)

bitter life

As for the head of the Popular Arts Association in Kurdistan, Jazay Saz, he describes the situation of Garmyani and many artists in the region with a verse of the well-known Kurdish poet Hemin Merkirani, which means that "the artist and the happy life do not meet, the artist's life is bitter and difficult."

Saz expresses his pain to see Garmyani move from the world of art, singing and singing to a completely different and different world that he was never accustomed to with his constant suffering with disease and poverty.

The president of the association wished that the concerned authorities in Kurdistan would respect and appreciate art and artists, because art is the language of communication between the peoples of the world, "and if we retreat from respect for art, this means falling behind the advanced countries."