According to the North Press Agency, artists in Kobani launched a talent show on social media a month ago. It is similar to other singing competitions such as “The Voice Kids” and “Kurdistan’s Kids Voice”.
Twelve-year-old Hevin Ali, from northern Syria’s Kurdish city of Kobani, sent a clip of herself singing to the programme’s producers. It had been filmed on her mother’s mobile phone.
“I always wished to participate in singing competitions, like those we watch on TV”, Ali said.
The competition’s organizers said that the child’s age should be between four and eighteen years, and any language can be accepted for the songs.
One hundred and forty one children from the Kobani, Afrin, and Jazira regions, as well as from the European Kurdish diaspora, have participated in the competition.
Rodin Baderkhan, the mother of eight-year-old Jynaf Khalil, believes that these types of cultural activities help to improve children’s psychological situations during unstable periods. “Children have been deprived of education, friends, and cultural activities after the closure of kindergartens and institutes of education, and after the cancellation of all cultural activities as a result of the coronavirus outbreak in the region”, she said.
The artist Saadoun Kobani, one of the competition committee’s members, said: “Our goal is to make children happy, including those who have lived through war and unstable situations, as well as the current situation of the epidemic. In the second stage of the competition, we will select fifty voices out of one hundred and forty one”.
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Kobani also stated that the committee will give prizes, including musical instruments, to the winners, in addition to producing a video clip for the winner, and supporting others financially.
