a good Kurdish time was had

Yesterday was the Kurdish Peace and Culture Festival. There was a HAILSTORM but thankfully it happened before the festival really started. It was a lot of fun, there was some pretty good music (Mikail Aslan was amazing), some too shouty (Sayda Perincek), and I made a bunch of friends. Met with one prominent Kurdish journalist who had travelled all the way from DC to attend the festival. Made some new friends.

The festival is dry, so there was after-fest drinks at a downtown pub patio; it was just perfect weather at this point. I got a ride there from two Kurdish friends who I really look up to. During the ride there was lots of discussion of Kurdish music, and at some point Gulay remembered that my partner had told her I was obsessed with a Kurdish song last year, and that it had to be played on the strike line at YorkU, and she decides to plays the song.

I had indeed been absolutely obsessed with Efrîn Tola Salan, the Kurdish song of the resistance to the Turkish invasion of Afrin. Even though the video comes with Kurmanji subtitles, I had also created my own English transliteration since I don't know how pronounce written Kurmanji, so I could learn the damn thing, and learn it I did. I had always intended to show off but never got to opportunity. Not skipping a beat, I fired up my lyrics sheet (still present as a link on my phone homescreen!!) and sang along. They were impressed. Mission accomplished, if only a year and a half later than intended!!

We all had a really good time on the patio, and I even made a Kurdish joke that cracked everyone up. Someone called me the "Toronto Flint" (DC anarchist, Kurdish solidarity activist) and that's totally not fair to Flint who is actually Doing Real Stuff. :P

There's yet another Kurdish festival tonight (organized by the Iraqi Kurds), so more merriment is coming up.