Ayfer Düzdaş, singer

Ayfer Düzdaş (1973- ) was born in Koçgiri, Sivas, a region where Kizilbaş Alevi culture was strong. Her family had fled from Dersim to Erzîngan during the 1938 massacre, and from there they moved to Sivas. When  she was nine years old, her family moved to Istanbul.

In 1998 she studied voice and violin at the Fine Arts High School in Pera. Afterward she joined the Koma Asmîn (Admin Group), which consisted of eleven women, and Vengê Sodirî, a group that performs in Zazakî.

She collaborated on three albums that archived traditional Kurdish folk songs: Şahiya Stranan-1 (2000) with Kom Muzik, Şahiya Stranan-2 (2004) with Vengê Sodirî, and Şahîya Stranan-3 (2011).

In 2008, she released her first solo album, Leylan.  In 2012 she recorded the lamentations of wailing women (a tradition in the Koçgiri region), collected them, and turned them into an album.

In 2017 she released the album Ji Xorasanê heta Çorimê Newayên Kurdên Elewî (Kurdish-Alevi Melodies from Khorasan to Çorum), a compilation of music she recorded from Kurdish Alevi regions.

In 2022 she released the album Kilomén Ârxawûné, which she collected while traveling from village to village in Erxewan, Yazixan, Hekîmxan and Arxa in Meletî. Don’t miss the haunting “Weda Weda.”

 She has also performed singing in the TV movies Şih Senem by Mazlum Çimen and Esir Kalpler with music by Nail Yurtsever.