Oy Yarê
A cry to the beloved that every Kurdish gathering knows.
- Type
- Stran (song)
- ✦
- Traditional (folk repertoire)
Oy Yarê (O Beloved) is one of those songs every Kurdish gathering seems to know without anyone remembering learning it. The address to the yar, the beloved, is the oldest gesture in Kurdish lyric, and this song carries it on a melody built for communal singing. It appears in wedding sets, acoustic sessions and studio albums alike, and its lyrics are searched thousands of times a month. Its simplicity is its strength: two words of longing that open a whole tradition.
Lyrics and translations for this song are being prepared. We publish texts only after editorial verification and a copyright check: traditional and public-domain works in full, modern protected works as context and meaning only.