About the event
From Dohuk refugee camp in Kurdistan, Iraq, the Amar Ashty Choir is unique. They sing and perform Yazidi music and song in their traditional dress. As part of their visit to Oxford, the choir will be performing in Blackwell Hall at the Weston Library – come to support, meet and hear them.
The Yazidi Women's Choir formed in 2019, with the support of the AMAR Foundation, a British education and healthcare charity founded by Baroness Nicholson. The foundation provides music training and mental health services to the Yazidi people, a religious minority in Iraq who fled Sinjar in 2014 after genocidal attacks by ISIS against them. 195,000 Yazidis still live in camps in Kurdistan. Singing and music help to give agency back to the survivors, raise morale and support mental health, and keep Yazidi culture and identity alive.
The choir has worked with the AMAR Foundation on a British Council-funded project to record and preserve the religious music of the Yazidi people. Yazidism is an ancient oral religion and culture, and historically its music has not been written down. In 2020 the Bodleian Libraries were honoured to receive an archive of recordings of Yazidi folk songs and sacred music presented by the choir, as part of these efforts to preserve this unique musical tradition.
Location
Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG
Wheelchair access
The Weston Library is wheelchair accessible.
