Rudaw Media Network on Wednesday hosted a star-studded Newroz Gala, an event to celebrate the Newroz festival marking the start of spring and the start of the Kurdish New Year.
Kurdish artists, musicians, historians, intellectuals, writers, journalists, and guests from foreign diplomatic missions attended the gala at Erbil’s White Hall.
The gala was hosted by prominent Rudaw TV presenters Ranj Sangawi and Dilbixwin Dara.
Kurdish musicians from the Kurdistan Region, Turkey, Syria, and Iran serenaded audience members with performances of popular Kurdish music.
Legendary singers Shivan Perwer and Nasser Razazi performed their original songs both as a duet and individually.
Mizgen Can, one of the gala’s attendees told Rudaw that she thoroughly enjoyed Perwer’s performance, stating that she considers him to be “the chief of all artists."
Prominent performer Hejar Zahawi and his band of daf players also performed.
The show also featured performances from other artists such as Firmesk from Iran’s Kurdish cities, Kawyar from the Kurdistan Region’s Hawraman area, Seqfan Orkes from northeast Syria (Rojava), and the Colemerg collective band from Turkey.
"It is the holiday of Kurdish unity and tonight I am very happy to meet here with great Kurdish artists to present a Newroz program to [the people of] all the parts of Kurdistan," Firmesk said.
The four-hour-long show was broadcast live on Rudaw TV.