Koma Amed

Koma Amed, formed in the early 1990s in the cultural-centre scene, is the group most associated with modernizing the koma: the Kurdish vocal ensemble tradition. Their arrangements set folk material and new songs for interlocking voices and acoustic instruments, urban and polished without losing the village core; recordings such as their version of Meyro became generation-defining. For many listeners in Bakur and the diaspora, Koma Amed was the sound of the 1990s cultural awakening, and their influence runs through every Kurdish vocal group since.