Kurdish Refugee Sisters Sing of Sorrow After Daesh and Bombings

Perwin and Norshean Salih, two Syrian Kurdish sisters in their early 20s, have twice been forced to flee their family home in Kobani due to the threat of Daesh and Turkish bombs. They now reside in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, where they perform Kurdish folk songs in a restaurant. The sisters play a variety of instruments and sing about the plight of the Kurds, including displacement, war, and killings. The Kurds, a non-Arab ethnic group, have long been oppressed and endured special horrors during Syria’s civil war, particularly during the Daesh onslaught. The sisters fled to Turkey during this time, before returning home in 2019. However, they were forced to flee once more to Iraq due to Turkish air and artillery strikes. Despite their love for music, the trauma they have endured has left deep scars. Norshean dreams of becoming a violinist but still has recurring nightmares about Daesh. The sisters mainly perform at a restaurant called Beroea, named after the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo. Co-owner Riyad Othman, a Syrian Kurd himself, understands the struggles his people face and is not surprised by the dangers the sisters have had to endure.