Some voices belong to a whole generation. For Kurds who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, with Kurdish radio at home and cassettes passed from hand to hand in exile, Merziye Feriqi was one of them. She sang love songs and lullabies, songs for the Peshmerga and songs for children, and she did it in a warm, steady voice that made even political songs sound personal.
This biography follows her life from Marivan to the mountains and on to Stockholm. It lists her best songs, the titles people search for most, and it also introduces her younger sister, Leyla Feriqi, who carried the family name into a new generation of Kurdish song.
Merziye Feriqi: quick facts
- Born: May 1958, Marivan, Iranian Kurdistan (sources differ on the exact day)
- Died: 18 September 2005, Stockholm, Sweden, aged 47, after surgery
- Family origin: Sanandaj (Sine)
- Spouse: Naser Razazi, singer (married 1978)
- Children: Dilnya and Kardo Razazi
- Genre: Sorani song, revolutionary and patriotic song, lullabies, children's songs
- Groups: Sine music ensemble (from 1977); Korî Bangewaz, a Peshmerga choir
- Known for: Hiwa Megrî, Belên Bide, Were Yarim; her duets with Naser Razazi; her work on Kurdish satellite television
Early life in Marivan
Merziye Feriqi was born in May 1958 in Marivan, a town near the Iran–Iraq border in eastern Kurdistan. Her family came originally from Sanandaj. (Sources give different days in May, so we give only the month.)
She loved singing from childhood and sang in school music groups. Like many Kurds of her generation in Iran, she grew up listening to the Kurdish programmes of Radio Baghdad. That is how she came to know the great women singers of the time, among them Meryem Xan, Nesrîn Şêrwan, Gulbihar and Ayşe Şan. After finishing school in Marivan, she worked as a teacher in the villages of the region.
Career: from Sine to the mountains
In 1977 she joined the music ensemble of Sanandaj, her first step into performing seriously. The next year, 1978, she married the singer Naser Razazi, and the two of them became one of the best-known couples in Kurdish music.
The Iranian revolution of 1979 and the conflict in Kurdistan that followed changed everything. From 1980 she joined the Peshmerga of the Komala party. In the mountains she and her comrades formed a choir, Korî Bangewaz, which sang revolutionary and patriotic songs. Recordings of these songs were broadcast on the radio stations of the Kurdish movement. The link between music and resistance in that period is the subject of our article on music and revolutionary movements.
Exile in Sweden
In 1984 (one source says 1985), Merziye Feriqi and Naser Razazi left Iran and were granted asylum in Sweden. Like many Kurdish artists of that generation, they rebuilt their musical life in Europe, recording for a scattered audience of refugees and exiles. Our article on Kurdish diaspora music describes that world.
In the mid-1990s she released her first recordings made in exile, including work with Naser Razazi. When the Kurdish satellite channel Med TV began broadcasting, her songs reached Kurdish homes across Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. She later presented Jîlemo, a programme on women's rights, for Medya TV.
Her activism went beyond music. In Sweden she worked for children's and women's rights and was a member of a Swedish association for children's rights. Many of her songs are written for children, among them the lullaby Lanik Lanik Lankolê.
Merziye Feriqi died in Stockholm on 18 September 2005, after surgery, at the age of 47. (A few reports give 2004; most sources, including Wikipedia and the Kurdish Women's Library, give 2005.)
Signature works
Her catalogue has three main strands:
- Love songs, gentle and lyrical, such as Hiwa Megrî and Le Yarewe.
- Songs of the struggle, from the Korî Bangewaz years onward, such as Hevalî Pêşmerge and Kurdistan.
- Songs for children and lullabies, such as Lanik Lanik Lankolê and Şeş Pepûlekey.
She also sang many duets with Naser Razazi, and at least two songs with her sister Leyla.
Merziye Feriqi's best songs
These are the titles Sorani listeners search for most. Sorani script is in brackets.
- Hiwa Megrî (هیوا مەگری). "Hiwa, don't cry." Her most searched song.
- Were Yarim / Maçî Xwidayî (وەرە یارم / ماچی خودایی). A love song known by both titles.
- Hevalî Pêşmerge (هەڤاڵی پێشمەرگە). "Comrade Peshmerga", from her years with the movement.
- Le Yarewe (لە یارەوە). "From the beloved."
- Belên Bide (بەڵێن بدە). "Promise me." Sorani Wikipedia also lists an album under this title, released in Sweden in 1999.
- Lanik Lanik Lankolê (لانک لانک لانکۆڵێ). A lullaby; for more on this tradition, read our guide to Kurdish lullabies, lawk and heyran.
- Şeş Pepûlekey (شەش پەپوولەکەی). "Her six butterflies", a children's song.
- Ay Çarey Dil (Ay Şil) (ئای چارەی دڵ / ئای شل). A duet with Leyla Feriqi on a traditional song. KurdNote has the folk song Ay Shl in notation.
Leyla Feriqi
Leyla Feriqi is Merziye's younger sister, as both Rudaw and Sorani Wikipedia state. She was born in Marivan in 1975 (sources differ on the exact date) and, like her sister, made her home in Sweden; Rudaw describes her as living between Sweden and the Kurdistan Region. According to Sorani Wikipedia, her first album came out in 1997. She became one of the popular Sorani singers of her generation, and Rudaw calls her one of the best-loved modern Kurdish singers.
The two sisters sang together. Their recordings include Ay Çarey Dil (Ay Şil) and Kurdîne Katman Kate, the second also with Naser Razazi. According to Rudaw, Leyla became much less active after Merziye's death and had not released new work for more than ten years. In 2025 Rudaw reported on a video tribute, made in Merziye's memory and addressed to Leyla, that asked her to return to the stage.
People who search for Leyla Feriqi often look for her songs Le Gerê Ba Dilim Bigirî (لە گەڕێ با دڵم بگری) and her maqam performances. If you are exploring her music, start with the duets she recorded with her sister, then move to her own albums.
Merziye Feriqi's legacy
Merziye Feriqi's legacy is threefold. She was one of the relatively few women whose voices defined Kurdish revolutionary song in the 1980s. She was a pioneer of Kurdish television in exile, reaching the whole of Kurdistan by satellite at a time when Kurdish broadcasting was still restricted in most of the region. And she built a repertoire for children that families still use.
She also belongs to a longer line of Kurdish women singers, from Ayşe Şan to Tara Jaff, who made careers in difficult conditions. Our overview of famous Kurdish singers places her generation in that wider story.
Her place in Kurdish music
Four threads tie her to the wider tradition:
- Sorani song from Iranian Kurdistan. She came from the Marivan and Sanandaj region, which gave Kurdish music voices such as Mazhar Khaleqi.
- The Radio Baghdad generation. Her taste was formed by the Kurdish radio singers of the 1960s and 1970s.
- Family in music. She shared her career with her husband Naser Razazi and her sister Leyla.
- The diaspora. Like many Kurdish musicians, she did most of her recording in exile.
Where to start listening to Merziye Feriqi
- First song: Hiwa Megrî.
- A duet: any of her songs with Naser Razazi, then Ay Çarey Dil (Ay Şil) with Leyla.
- For children: Lanik Lanik Lankolê, then our guide to Kurdish children's songs.
- For context: songs of distance and exile in our longing and exile playlist, and the modes behind much Sorani song on our maqam Hijaz page.
Learning to sing her songs
Many readers come to Merziye Feriqi's songs wanting to sing or play them, not only to listen. A few practical suggestions:
- Start with a folk song she also sang. Ay Şil is a traditional song, so you can learn the melody from our Ay Shl notation and then compare it with the version she recorded with Leyla. Listening for what a singer changes, where she holds a note or adds an ornament, is one of the best ways to learn a vocal style.
- Learn to read the notation first. If staff notation is new to you, our guide on how to read Kurdish music notation explains the basics, including the quarter-tone signs used in Kurdish music.
- Sing slowly with the recording. Her delivery is calm and clear, which makes her songs good material for learners. Sing along at first, then without the track.
- Mind the words. Her lyrics are in Sorani. Find the text first, understand it, and let the words shape your phrasing.
- Try a duet. Much of her best work was sung with a partner, whether Naser Razazi or Leyla. Duets are a natural way to practise with a friend or a family member, which is also how many of these songs were passed on.
Merziye Feriqi's songs are still sung in Kurdish homes, at gatherings and to children at bedtime. Visit Merziye Feriqi's artist page for her biography and key songs at a glance, then explore the Sorani notation in our library and learn to play some of the songs her generation loved.
Sources
- Merziye Feriqi, Wikipedia
- مەرزیە فەریقی, Sorani Wikipedia
- Merziye Feriqi: Voice that embraces four parts of Kurdistan, Jin News Agency
- Merzîye Resazî (Ferîqî), Kurdish Women's Library, Archive and Research Center
- لە بەرهەمێکدا مەرزیە فەریقی پەیامی بۆ لەیلای خوشکی هەیە, Rudaw
- لەیلا فەریقی, Sorani Wikipedia
- Merziye Feriqi song list, GoraniKurdi