Abbas Kamandi was one of those rare artists who seemed to do everything. The Sorani press called him "the man of seven arts": singer, poet, writer, painter, screenwriter, director and broadcaster. For most Kurds, though, he is simply the voice of a handful of songs from Sanandaj, recorded with the Kamkars, that have never stopped being sung.
This biography covers his life in Sanandaj, his partnership with the Kamkar family, his best songs and his legacy, and ends with a short guide to where to start listening.
Quick facts
- Name: Abbas Kamandi (Sorani: عەباس کەمەندی; often "Ebasî Kemendî")
- Born: Sanandaj (Sine), Iranian Kurdistan, in 1951 or 1952 (sources differ)
- Died: 22 May 2014, Sanandaj, aged 62
- Genre: Kurdish song based on folk melody and poetry, in the Sanandaj tradition
- Worked with: Hassan Kamkar and the Kamkars ensemble
- Also: Poet, writer, painter, screenwriter and radio and TV producer
- Known for: Kaley Bey, Meylî Jiyayî, Beynî Min û To, To Çawit Neyşê, Gelawêj
Early life in Sanandaj
Abbas Kamandi was born in Sanandaj, the main city of Iran's Kurdistan province and historically the capital of the Ardalan principality. His exact birth date is unclear. English Wikipedia gives 5 May 1952, Sorani Wikipedia gives 1952 with a different day, and Persian Wikipedia gives April 1951. What all the sources agree on is that he was 62 when he died in 2014.
He spent almost his whole life in Sanandaj. Persian Wikipedia notes that there were musicians in his family, and Sorani Wikipedia describes a traditional household where formal education was not a given; he did not go to university. His path into the arts came through writing rather than music school.
Career: radio, poetry and the Kamkars
Radio and television in Sanandaj
Kamandi started working in the arts at around 18, writing for Radio Sanandaj. When Sanandaj television was founded a few years later, he wrote scripts for its programmes, films and series. Rudaw notes that he worked at Radio Sine for more than thirty years and headed the city's House of Culture and Literature.
That long career behind the microphone and the typewriter matters for understanding his songs. Kamandi thought of himself first as a poet. BBC Persian's obituary described him as "a singer who wanted to be a poet", and Rudaw wrote that he preferred to be known as a poet even though the public knew him as a singer.
Meeting Hassan Kamkar
The decisive meeting of his musical life was with Hassan Kamkar, the Sanandaj composer and teacher whose children would become the Kamkars. Sorani Wikipedia says they met by chance in Kamandi's early radio years, and that his first work as a singer was a song composed by Hassan Kamkar. From then on the two worked together regularly.
Before the 1979 revolution, Sorani Wikipedia counts around thirty songs broadcast in Kamandi's voice on radio and television. Instead of only reworking folk songs, he often set Kurdish poetry to music, which set him apart from many singers of the time.
The Kamkar albums
After the revolution, Kamandi continued working with the Kamkars, who went on to become the best-known Kurdish music ensemble in Iran. Together they released:
- Hawraman (هەورامان), 1981, on the Soroush label
- Pirşing (پرشنگ)
- Gelawêj (گەلاوێژ), whose songs are still among the most widely heard in Kurdistan
A fourth album, Kîjî Kurd (کیژی کورد), rounds out his discography.
Altogether, Rudaw and Persian Wikipedia both credit him with around 60 recorded songs and the words to about 150 songs. That is a small catalogue for such a famous voice, and it explains why a handful of songs carry his whole reputation.
What the Kamandi–Kamkar records sound like
If you put on Gelawêj today, the first thing you notice is the ensemble. The Kamkar siblings each specialised in an instrument, and their records are built from the sound of a Sanandaj family band: the hammered santur, the bowed kamancheh, long-necked lutes, the ney, and the frame drum daf driving the dance sections. The arrangements treat Kurdish melodies with the care of Iranian classical music without losing their village roots.
Kamandi's voice sits on top of that ensemble in a very particular way. It is not a showy classical voice. It is warm, direct and slightly rough, closer to a storyteller than to a virtuoso, and that is exactly why the songs travelled. Listeners who would never sit through a long classical performance could sing Kaley Bey after a few hearings.
The partnership mattered for the Kamkars too. Rudaw describes him as their voice for years, and these albums gave the ensemble a popular voice at home.
Writer and filmmaker
Kamandi's other work was just as varied. English, Sorani and Persian Wikipedia list screenplays including Asb ("The Horse"), Parvaz dar Qafas ("Flight in a Cage") and Pahlavan Panbe, a television puppet show, and a documentary series introducing famous Kurdish figures. His books include a collection of his Kurdish and Persian poetry, an edition of the poet Mirza Shafi's divan, a study of the old sport of Kurdish wrestlers, a book on Hawraman, and a biography of Seyed Ali Asghar Kurdistani, the great Sanandaj singer of an earlier generation.
Abbas Kamandi's death in 2014
Abbas Kamandi died in Sanandaj on 22 May 2014, aged 62. Rudaw's English service reported the cause as heart failure. Two weeks later, his daughter Chnoor Kamandi told Rudaw's Sorani service that she believed medical errors during treatment for kidney stones had led to his death. We report both accounts, as we know of no official finding. His death was mourned on both sides of the border; the Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament, Yousif Muhammad, called it a great loss to Kurdish art and music.
Signature works
- ***Gelawêj* with the Kamkars.** His most loved album, and the source of Meylî Jiyayî, Naskî Sûk and the title song.
- ***Hawraman* (1981).** The first Kamandi–Kamkar album, named after the mountainous Hawraman region.
- His lyrics. Even where others sang, many songs of the Sanandaj repertoire carry his words.
Abbas Kamandi's best songs
These are the titles listeners search for most. Sorani spellings are in brackets.
- Kaley Bey (کاڵەبەی), "Unripe Quince": Rudaw notes it became the theme of a popular TV programme about reviving village life.
- Meylî Jiyayî (مەیلی جیایی), "The Wish to Part": from Gelawêj.
- Beynî Min û To (بەینی من و تۆ), "Between You and Me": among his most shared songs online.
- To Çawit Neyşê (تۆ چاوت نەیشێ), "May Your Eyes Not Ache": a much-loved love song, recently covered by younger singers such as Kewyar.
- Gelawêj (گەلاوێژ): the title song of the album.
- Naskî Sûk (ناسکی سووک): also from Gelawêj.
- Sebrî Gyan (سەبری گیان): a duet with the singer Shahen Talabani, mentioned by Rudaw among his notable works.
KurdNote doesn't have notation for these songs yet. The closest thing in our library is the Sanandaj ensemble sound he recorded with: our kamancheh spotlight playlist and the santur and kamancheh pages introduce the instruments the Kamkars play.
Abbas Kamandi's legacy
Kamandi's legacy is bigger than his discography. He belongs to the Sanandaj school of Kurdish song that runs from Seyed Ali Asghar Kurdistani, whose life he wrote about, to Mazhar Khaleqi and the Kamkars. That school treats poetry, melody and ensemble playing with equal seriousness, and Kamandi was one of the people who proved it could also produce songs that everyone sings.
The two ends of that line show how far it reaches. Seyed Ali Asghar Kurdistani, born near Sanandaj in the early 1880s, recorded a set of discs for the Polyphon company around 1930 and was one of the first Kurdish singers ever recorded. Mazhar Khaleqi, born in Sanandaj in 1938, carried the city's classical training to Radio Tehran and later to Sulaymaniyah. Kamandi stands between them, the voice that took this refined tradition to ordinary listeners.
His songs have become shared property. They are sung at gatherings across Kurdistan, covered by young singers on social media, and passed on by people who may not know the name of the man who first sang them. Rudaw's English headline on his death called him the "Voice of the Kurds", and on the Sorani web he is still remembered as piyawî heft huner, the man of seven arts.
Abbas Kamandi on KurdNote
The best way to go deeper on KurdNote is the book **The Kamkars, Khaleqi, Qaradaghi and Kurdish Music** (کامکارەکان، خالقی، قەرەداخی و مۆسیقای کوردی), which covers the ensemble he recorded his classic albums with. You can also read our article on the Kamkars and our overview of famous Kurdish singers. For the Hawraman region his first album was named after, see our article on Hawrami and Zazaki music traditions.
Listening guide: where to start
- Start with: Kaley Bey, then Beynî Min û To.
- A full album: Gelawêj, from start to finish.
- For the history: Hawraman (1981), the first album with the Kamkars.
- Then compare: listen to Mazhar Khaleqi, another Sanandaj voice, to hear the same city's music through a more classical lens.
- Go further back: Seyed Ali Asghar Kurdistani's surviving recordings from around 1930, later collected on CD by Mahoor Records.
Sources
- Voice of the Kurds, Singer Abbas Kamandi, Dead at 62, Rudaw English
- عەباسی کەمەندی بە "هەڵەی پزیشکی" مردووە, Rudaw Sorani
- عباس کمندی، خوانندهای که میخواست شاعر باشد, BBC Persian
- عەباس کەمەندی, Sorani Wikipedia
- عباس کمندی, Persian Wikipedia
- Abbas Kamandi, English Wikipedia
Want to hear the world he came from? Visit Abbas Kamandi's artist page, download the free book on the Kamkars and Kurdish music or browse our Sorani sheet music.