Hamay Nergiz: ‘Never Let My House Be Without Daffodils’ - Se
Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 2:34 pmSULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Throughout his life Kurdish singer and stage actor Hamay Nergiz never forgot his love for daffodils. Nergiz (daffodil) was his stage name, which he took from his mother, the beloved woman who adopted and raised him from an orphan.
Nergiz, a singer and familiar voice in Kurdistan, died last month after a five-year battle with cancer. He was 69.
“To me Nergiz means everything,” he told Rudaw days before his death. “I wouldn’t trade it for the whole world.”
“I have asked my children not to let this house ever be without daffodils,” Nergiz said, speaking of his love for his mother who raised him without a father.
Nergiz, who started as a young singer in the late 1950s, also appeared in several plays, the most famous of them “Mr. Inspector.”
He said that his singing career began when he met the famous Kurdish poet Goran at a teahouse in Sulaimani, and was encouraged by him to choose his own style.
“Goran asked me, ‘what is your favorite bird?’ and I said, ‘parrot,” Nergiz told Rudaw, as he struggled for breath due to this illness. “Goran said a parrot is a beautiful bird, but it is only an imitator. I later understood that he meant I shouldn’t imitate others.”
Nergiz’s songs are still familiar in many of Sulaimani teahouses and homes, especially among the people of his own generation.
Before his death, Nergiz took Rudaw for a walk along his favorite street, Mawlawi, which he said reflected his deepest memories like a mirror.
“I see all the beauties of Sulaimani in this street,” he said, struggling for strength as he pointed out buildings and sites of his childhood days.
In his later years Nergiz’s visits to the hospital grew more frequent as his illness worsened.
“I feel I am in a prison cell,” he said as he lay on a bed before his doctor. “I don’t like hospitals.”
Upon reaching home and taking his prescribed pills, Nergiz spoke of a strong feeling of loneliness, and that he felt cut off from the world.
“Can anything else be as isolating as loneliness,” he said in a faded tone.
Nergiz, who rose to fame with his memorable song “What else have I other than your eyes?” recalled the day he recorded that song.
“Our band had got the license, but we didn’t have a place to record,” he said, as he pointed to a room in an old building on Sulaimani’s Mawlawi Street. “So we covered that room with blankets, turned it into a studio and recorded my song.”
Nergiz said that as a young boy he had worked as an apprentice with tailors, cobblers, bakers and teahouse owners.
Herish Abdulrahman, a music artist and clarinet player, said that for the past six years he had been trying to record one last song for Nergiz, but that the singer’s deteriorating health made that impossible.
Nergiz, a singer and familiar voice in Kurdistan, died last month after a five-year battle with cancer. He was 69.
“To me Nergiz means everything,” he told Rudaw days before his death. “I wouldn’t trade it for the whole world.”
“I have asked my children not to let this house ever be without daffodils,” Nergiz said, speaking of his love for his mother who raised him without a father.
Nergiz, who started as a young singer in the late 1950s, also appeared in several plays, the most famous of them “Mr. Inspector.”
He said that his singing career began when he met the famous Kurdish poet Goran at a teahouse in Sulaimani, and was encouraged by him to choose his own style.
“Goran asked me, ‘what is your favorite bird?’ and I said, ‘parrot,” Nergiz told Rudaw, as he struggled for breath due to this illness. “Goran said a parrot is a beautiful bird, but it is only an imitator. I later understood that he meant I shouldn’t imitate others.”
Nergiz’s songs are still familiar in many of Sulaimani teahouses and homes, especially among the people of his own generation.
Before his death, Nergiz took Rudaw for a walk along his favorite street, Mawlawi, which he said reflected his deepest memories like a mirror.
“I see all the beauties of Sulaimani in this street,” he said, struggling for strength as he pointed out buildings and sites of his childhood days.
In his later years Nergiz’s visits to the hospital grew more frequent as his illness worsened.
“I feel I am in a prison cell,” he said as he lay on a bed before his doctor. “I don’t like hospitals.”
Upon reaching home and taking his prescribed pills, Nergiz spoke of a strong feeling of loneliness, and that he felt cut off from the world.
“Can anything else be as isolating as loneliness,” he said in a faded tone.
Nergiz, who rose to fame with his memorable song “What else have I other than your eyes?” recalled the day he recorded that song.
“Our band had got the license, but we didn’t have a place to record,” he said, as he pointed to a room in an old building on Sulaimani’s Mawlawi Street. “So we covered that room with blankets, turned it into a studio and recorded my song.”
Nergiz said that as a young boy he had worked as an apprentice with tailors, cobblers, bakers and teahouse owners.
Herish Abdulrahman, a music artist and clarinet player, said that for the past six years he had been trying to record one last song for Nergiz, but that the singer’s deteriorating health made that impossible.