LONDON-based Kurdish singer-songwriter Suna Alan has released Nadia – a song for Yazidi women captured by ISIS and in honour of Nadia Murad, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize,

Brush & Bow, a UK-based creative journalism platform, helped publish the song based on Yazidi Women alongside an animated portrait of the Kurdish artist Suna Alan as part of the Women’s Role Models Project.

Aiming to explore individual stories in wider social issues through art and music, the Brush & Bow creative journalism platform works with oppressed people victims of political, economic and systematic abuse.

The platform launched the Women’s Role Model Project this year and announced that it is aiming to give voice to a number of amazing women working in line with inspiring goals.

The platform stated in their press release ‘While there are already many female role models, we have noticed that very few famous women are constantly being used by the media. There is no perspective on what a female role model looks like. We want to highlight women from all cultures, ages and abilities and inspire other women. ”

Brush & Bow has been following the efforts of artist Suna Alan’s throughout her journey in writing this song for Nadia and Yazidi women. Her biography and song was published under the Women Role Models project.

Yazidi Kurdish activist Nadia Murad was kidnapped from her village during the genocide of Daesh members in 2014 together with hundreds of women and remained in captivity for months. Nadia Murad was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, wrote a book and became a UN Goodwill Ambassador.

Story of the song

In 2016, Suna Alan also a freelance journalist had the opportunity to interview Nadia Murad, who visited Britain during a series of meetings with British parliamentarians and human rights organisations.

This interview greatly affected Alan. In the same year, she held two separate support concerts for the Yazidi and Kurdish women captured by ISIS.

As a result, ‘Nadia’ was composed in order to create and raise more awareness. In 2018, Murad was granted Nobel Peace Prize.

I had a serious shock post interview with Nadia Murad.  This woman, fit so much pain in her young body, had an incredibly fragile voice and yet had the scream of all the Kurdish women who had been captured by the barbarians in her emotional eyes.

Nadia rightly so, expected the support of all regardless of religion, race, class and gender. The more I spoke, the more I felt her weight on my shoulders. After a long time, I felt very uneasy.

Then, in the same year, I organised two concerts in support of the Yazidi Women and various Women’s Organisations working for the Yazidi Kurdish women captured by the barbarians.

After this composition began to take shape, I started to unravel that that In fact, through Nadia this is the story of Kurdish women and Kurds. Despite the pain and suffering those who are determined to stay alive and fight the oppression regardless for the next generation … ‘’

Whilst writing this piece artist Suna Alan stated ‘ the only thought running through my mind was Nadia’s words during the interview about forgetting her mother. She said, My mother is the only thing I had in my life, when they took me to Mosul and sold me there, that’s when I forgot about my mother. Because what they did to women there was much heavier than death’.

NADIA

Oh mother, I can’t hear your voice

Oh mother, I have fallen into a deep well, a dark well, give a voice!

Life was dark, freedom was far away, I was wounded oh mother

Life was dark, freedom was far away, death was better oh mother

Far away, far away, far away your eyes!

Far away, far away, far away your eyes!

Oh mother, I woke up from a dream

The sound of your voice and your laughter are in my ears

I am Nadia, I am your gazelle

I am the red poppy of Shingal.

I was a happy child; I grew up in happiness

Closer, your voice is closer; closer, hope is closer

Closer, your eyes are closer; closer, a bright future is closer