The Aesthetics of Resistance in Kurdish Protest Music: Rençber Aziz

Year 2026, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 22 - 50, 21.03.2026

Abdülbaki Kınsün , İsa Bulukgiray

https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks.1801255

https://izlik.org/JA53WN39GX

Abstract

This study focuses on Rençber Azîz, one of the political examples of Kurdish protest music. Within the scope of the study, the artist's musical production is examined around four main thematic axes: political murders, the search for identity, the experience of loss/disappearance, and social mourning and the longing for an imaginary homeland. Rençber Azîz's selected works are analyzed in terms of both their lyrical structure and socio-political context, with the aim of providing a conceptual framework for the historical function and contemporary meaning of Kurdish protest music. In this context, the study will evaluate in detail how music functions as a tool for rebuilding a people's identity, expressing their grief, and constructing their utopia for the future. The importance of the study stands out in several dimensions: it provides an opportunity for the expression of collective memory on a musical plane; it addresses Zazaki and the Zazas through an artist who is valued on a local and national scale; and, with this quality, it is a first in the context of Zaza music. Methodologically, the study is based on a qualitative research approach, adopting thematic content analysis as its analytical technique. The findings obtained from the study are as follows. Rençber Azîz’s music not only reflects the historical traumas of the Kurdish people but also transforms them into an aesthetic means of coping. The artist constructs his political discourse not through direct messages but through indirect forms such as irony, metaphor, and folk narrative. His multilingual production represents cultural plurality while challenging singular notions of identity. Moreover, by addressing themes such as political assassinations, the search for identity, loss, and the longing for an imagined homeland, he offers a unique example that shapes the aesthetics of resistance within Kurdish protest music.

Keywords

Rençber Aziz , Protest Music , Collective Memory , Resistance , Identity

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