Mesopotamian Cultural Centers are organizing a conference on the Kurdish music in the city of Diyarbakir on 23-24 December, 2006 in order to discuss those problems of Kurdish music that have been long-debated in different platforms.

• Our Conference shall be the first platform to pursue a multidimensional debate on Kurdish music with the participation of academics, researchers musicians, producers, arrangers, directors, cultural organizations, local representatives and relevant persons of law from a range of perspectives.
• Four sessions will be held during the two-day conference in which the participants will address the past and present problems of the Kurdish Music with its popular, academic economic, political and industrial dimensions.

Session themes and tentative titles are determined as follows:

Title: Kurdish Music: From the Past to the Present, From the Present to the Future
Place: Diyarbakir Baglar Municipality Conferance Hall, Diyarbakir, Turkey
Date: December 23rd and 24th, 2006

1. Kurdish Music From the Past to Present
   1. Kurdish Music Researches in the Course of History/Stylistic characteristics of Kurdish traditional music - what is Kurdish about the music of Kurds (Dieter Christensen)
   2. The Music of the Khorasani Kurds: Questions and Perspectives (Stephen Blum)
   3. Structural Features of the Traditional Kurdish Music (Veysi Varl)
   4. The Interaction between the Kurdish Music and the Music of Neighboring Peoples (Abdullah Cemal)
   5. The Place of Music in Kurdish Social Life.(Xemgin Birhat)
   6. Woman in the Kurdish Music.
      - The legacy and the role of woman in the Kurdish Music (Kaksar Oramar)
      - The place and the active participation of women in Kurdish Music (Nilufer Akbal)
2. The Cultural Sources of the Kurdish Music
   1. Oral Tradition and the Kurdish Music (Kemal/Metin Kahraman)
   2. Mysticism and Mythology in the Mesopotamian and Kurdish Music (Mikail Aslan)
   3. The Place and Importance of the Dengbej in the Kurdish Music (Abidin Parilti)
   4. Diversity of Form in the Kurdish Music (Enver Qeredaxi)
   5. Regional Diversity in the Kurdish Music
      - The Alavite-Yezidi, Ahl-i Haqq and Qadiri Mystical Music and Hewrami traditions
      - Nahro Zagros,Tara Caf, Mehmet Bayrak
3. Contemporary Problems of the Kurdish Music
   1. Contemporary Kurdish music productions and Modern Approaches to Traditional Music (Dilsad Said)
   2. The Dynamics of Urbanization and their Impacts on the Kurdish Music (Vedat Yildirim/Kardes Turkuler, Serhat/Car News)
   3. The Sectoral Problems of the Kurdish Music; Making of a Kurdish Music Industry, Professional Problems of Producers and Arrangers. (Mehmet Atli and Kurdish Music Productors)
   4. Current Legal Problems of Kurdish Music and Kurdish Musicians in terms of Cultural Rights. (Hasip Kaplan)
   5. Representation of Kurdish Music in Media and its Problems (Kemal Varol)
4. Kurdish Music From Present to the Future
   1. The Problems of Methodology and Terminology in Kurdish Music Education (Dilsad Said)
   2. The Problems of Institutionalization, Schooling and Curriculum in Kurdish Music (Nejat Amin)
   3. The Problem of Transmitting the Kurdish Musical Accumulation to the next Generation: Works on Anthology, Archive, Library, Publishing.
   4. Politics of Culture From Today to Tomorrow: Developing Projects for Solution of the Problems of the Kurdish Music.