At a Glance

• Slemani has long been a leading center of Kurdish culture and the arts.

• The city gave rise to Kurdistan's first musical ensemble.

• It was also home to some of the region's earliest theater performances.

Slemani is widely regarded as a pioneer of culture and enlightenment in the Kurdistan Region, serving as the cradle of its first artistic groups, musical ensembles, live performances, and acting.

Key Statements and Focus Area

• Historical Record: According to historical documents, the Old Mawlawi Music Ensemble (Tipi Mosiqay Mawlawii Kon), founded in 1955 under Qadir Dilan, is the first Kurdish musical group with official members and an institutional structure. — Historical documents.

• Focus Area: Slemani's role as the birthplace of Kurdish organized music and theater.

The Old Mawlawi Music Ensemble is also the second-oldest musical group in Iraq and staged performances until 1963.

Its founding members included Qadir Dilan, William Yohanna, Bahjat Rashid Saatchi, and Najati Abda, while vocalists who performed with it included Rashol, Hama Salih Dilan, Shamal Saib, Sewa, and Rafiq Chalak.

Its activities ended after Dilan, the driving force behind the group, left to study in Czechoslovakia.

The Slemani Music Ensemble then emerged as its successor and remains one of the leading groups today, followed by dozens of others advancing Kurdish music in Western and Eastern styles.

Theater in the city dates back to the era of Major Soane. During the "Butchers' Picnic" of 1912, performers staged acts and impersonations, after which formal theater took root in schools.

The first play, "Knowledge and Ignorance" (Ilm u Jahl), was staged in 1925-1926 by students of the Zanisti School, adapted from the Arabic play "Were It Not for the Lawyer."

In 1933, "Love and Fidelity" (Dildari u Payman Parwari), by A. B. Hawri, became the first Kurdish theatrical script published as a book at the Ma'arif Printing House in Baghdad, and students performed it on stage in 1955.

FYI

Slemani's theater developed in parallel with the emergence of the art form in other cities of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, with schools playing a central role in its early growth.

The city is often seen as a cultural capital of Kurdistan, and its ensembles helped set the model for later Kurdish music groups.

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