Hama Jaza

About Hama Jaza

Hama Jaza was a Kurdish singer and songwriter from Sulaymaniyah whose patriotic songs became the sound of the Kurdish resistance in Iraq. Born Mihemed Jeza in 1949, he grew up in a city with a strong tradition of maqam singing and poetry, and he absorbed both the classical maqam and the folk songs of the region.

In 1969 he joined the Kurdish liberation movement and spent years as a Peshmerga in the mountains, writing and singing for his comrades. He became famous in the 1970s for songs such as Ho Kakî Pêşmerge, Metrêzî Şeref and Sêdare, his most searched song. He was not only a political singer: he was also a master of the Sulaymaniyah maqam and of lawanewe, the slow free-rhythm lament of Sorani song, and he wrote love songs such as Hanê Gul and Ey Perî that are still sung at gatherings.

Like many Kurdish fighters and artists, he eventually became a refugee in Denmark with his family, performing for Kurdish audiences in Europe and North America and recording duets with Naser Razazi. After the 1991 uprising he returned to Sulaymaniyah. He died there in 2010, aged 61, after an illness, and was buried at the Saywan hill cemetery after a very large funeral. His portrait hangs among the city's poets and singers in its famous old tea house.

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