Hilal Zerin opens registration for the third martyr Berjin Festival

The Hilal Zerin Women’s Culture Movement, in cooperation with the Mesopotamia Democratic Culture and Arts Movement, has begun preparations for the third edition of the Martyr Berjin Festival. A meeting was held with members of the festival’s preparatory committee as part of the preparations.

According to the Hilal Zerin administration, the meeting discussed arrangements for holding the festival and participation requirements. Invitations were also sent to cultural centers in Hasakah province to prepare for the festival. A follow-up committee will determine the number of participating groups according to the festival’s three-day duration.

Roken Mohammed, an administrator with the Hilal Zerin Movement and a member of the preparatory committee, said the festival will begin on October 15 at Azadi Park in Qamishlo and will run for three days.

She said the festival will feature artistic, cultural and literary performances, adding that registration will be open to all groups wishing to participate and showcase their culture and folklore.

Roken explained that the committee has required all submitted works to be new and the lyrics of songs to be written by women. The festival will also revive traditional songs that are rarely performed, with the aim of renewing them and preserving the region’s folklore heritage.

On theatrical performances, the committee has stipulated that they address women’s issues and be presented in a new and carefully developed manner. As for traditional Kurdish dance performances, each city will have the opportunity to present its own style of dance while wearing its distinctive traditional dress.

Roken Mohammed also noted that the festival will include intellectual seminars addressing cultural and women’s issues, as well as exhibitions featuring traditional foods and old dishes for which the region is known.

On the festival’s objectives, Roken said the Hilal Zerin Movement seeks to highlight women’s achievements and establish them as the “culture of the mother and the home of the revolution,” passing this culture from one generation to the next.

According to information obtained by the agency, invitations have been extended to artist Juby Fattah from Southern Kurdistan and artist Banfsh Jazeri from Northern Kurdistan, as well as a group from Eastern Kurdistan based in Sulaymaniyah in Southern Kurdistan, to participate in the festival’s events.

Roken said the preparatory committee aims, through the festival and participation from across Kurdistan, to “build a borderless art that brings the four parts of Kurdistan together through strength, determination and a shared art on one stage.”

According to the committee, the festival will conclude with the presentation of a festival emblem in the form of an honorary shield to all participating groups and female artists. The festival will open with a film screening portraying the life and struggle of the martyred artist Berjin.

Berjin Afrin

Berjin Afrin was born in 1974 into a politically active family in the village of Kawanda in the Rajo district of Afrin. The family moved to Aleppo for work, where Berjin became acquainted with the Kurdish struggle and the Kurdish liberation movement’s ideology.

Influenced by her family, Berjin joined the Agri singing group in 1988 and began developing intellectually, politically and culturally through her deep engagement with Kurdish liberation thought. She joined the movement in 1992 and performed numerous songs in her melodious voice, including “Bêrîtana Min.”

She was later killed years later and became known as the “Bride of Kurdistan,” a title she had requested before her death.

The first edition of the festival was held in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in the summer of 2022, while the second edition took place in Kobani on September 6, 2024.

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ANHA