Adnan Karim

About Adnan Karim

Adnan Karim is a Kurdish singer, oud player, composer and painter, and one of the best-loved voices of Sorani song. Born in Kirkuk in 1963, he grew up in Sulaymaniyah after his family was displaced, and graduated as a painter from the city's Institute of Fine Arts in 1985. Painting has remained a parallel career.

His first public performance came in 1979, when he sang Desmalê with the Sulaymaniyah Music Ensemble. Through the 1980s he recorded with the city's ensembles and leading composers, including Salah Raouf, whose Azîzekem (1984) he sang. In 1991 he left Kurdistan in the mass exodus after the uprising, and in 1992 he settled in Sweden, where he learned to record and produce his own music. Birtan Ekem (1993), Şewî Yelda (1996) and Eroy Oxir (1999) were followed by his best-known albums: Şney Ba (2002), home of Peyamî Min, Emşew (2006), recorded in Tehran with the Kamkars, and Wefayî (2010), named after the classical poet.

His defining contribution is setting classical and modern Kurdish poetry to music, with the oud at the centre of the arrangements and melodies that follow the metre of the verse. In 2017 he sat on the judging panel of Kurd Idol. He is also the author of the book Pepule, which is available in KurdNote's library.

→ Browse all Sorani Kurdish notation