‘We do not want to ideologize our traumas’

The Kurdish word “ferec” means, “the last shining star in the sky at dawn; the eve of light after darkness,” according to Reh Fuat, vocalist for the Kurdish metal band of the same name.

“We believe that we have reached the end of the darkness we had to live through, too,” said Fuat at the beginning of our discussion about the first metal album in Kurdish, titled “Helîkoptêr” (Helicopter).

Ferec was founded by four musicians who split from a folk band that played at weddings and bars.

Another thing that Reh Fuat, guitarist Kaya Baratarna, bassist Afirîş and drummer Zêde have in common is they all started playing music with the “baglama,” a traditional folk instrument of Anatolia.

While the quartet was in search of new horizons in terms of music, they found a mix tape that introduced them to the world of heavy metal. “We knew that [metal] was what we wanted to do but we did not know what it was before that tape,” said Fuat. Unfortunately, they lost that tape since and the identity of the band or artist who sparked the flame for Ferec remains unknown.

The band has gone down in history as the first band to release a metal album in Kurdish but they are also the only one in existence as well, according to Fuat. “There was Koma Wetan, a band from Armenia, which was not playing metal, but hard rock. We can say they influenced us. However, there are no bands playing this style in Kurdish except us.”

The people of Hakkari must have found it odd that they were playing heavy metal. “Everything that is not directly related to material gains is considered odd in a place where life is very hard,” said Fuat, adding that what the band was doing was first perceived as “unnecessary” at best. Fuat said it is hard for metal music, which is a product of Western industrial society, to exist in a traditional society where individuality hardly exists. “But we are aware that humanity is getting closer to forming a single community. Just because this isn't so visible in Hakkari, doesn't mean it's not important to us.” The band believes that the concept of individuality will evolve faster among Kurds today because individuality is on the agenda both locally and internationally. “We are trying to form a connection with the world that is apart from just being Kurds, or alongside that, but one that features our individuality, too,” Fuat said.

The booklet of their album lists “Hevalno,” a song by international Kurdish musician Şivan Perwer as the opening track but the song is not on the CD. “We could not reach Şivan Perwer because he lets his lawyers handle the royalties,” Fuat said. The band was disappointed with the lawyers for asking for such a high price from a band that used a bank loan to record their album because they could not initially afford it. According to Fuat, “Hevalno” is kept in the booklet as a reaction. He said they still play the song live onstage.

One look at the album cover is enough to capture the political content of the songs if you are familiar with the Kurdish problem in Turkey, but that is not all. Ferec has songs about love, too. “It is not just about politics here. We fall in love, we fight, too,” said Fuat. Their lyrics are rebellious, but not pessimistic. The line “Çi bikin warê me hemû sotin” (What can we do? They have burned all of our houses down), is followed by “Tev werin warê xwe nûda xemlînîn” (Come on let us beautify our houses once more). “Being optimistic is the most important part of our perception on life,” said Fuat. “We are trying to produce hope. We do not cry out just to resist, we do not just swear. We also have hope that the world can be a better place. It is probably because we are from a region where you cannot stay on your own two feet without hope. We do not want to ideologize our traumas. We believe that we must think of tomorrow, too.”

On the other hand, Ferec is a metal band and anger is an important element in the music. Anger is a clear emotion, which is audible in the title track of the album about helicopters. As kids, the band members thought the helicopters represented games, but soon realized it was all too real. The chorus, which includes the only Turkish words of the album, goes: “Serleşker dike qêrî” (The commander shouts) “Rahat hazır ol nişan al” (Ready steady aim).

Fuat said Hakkari is a very special place for them, not only because they were born and raised there, but also because the town is important as a place where many important names in Kurdish literature were born and many different ethnic groups and religious beliefs have coexisted in peace throughout history. The band does not like the term “tolerance,” because it does not believe that people “tolerate” each other. Instead, Ferec’s uses the definition of “the culture for living together.”

Turkey has come a long way since the official policy of the government towards Kurds and the days of “there are no Kurds, there are mountain Turks.” The members of Ferec certainly believe the “Kurdish initiative” by the current administration is a positive thing. Fuat said the highest ranks of the government speaking about the past injustices, and the torture and cruelty of the past as if in apology, is progress, but that it is not enough. “Other citizens of Turkey, the ones who were militarized, were made into enemies of the Kurds. They suffered similar traumas to ours and deserve an apology, too. The people of Turkey must be told: ‘We have deceived you for 90 years. We made enemies of your brothers and we are apologizing for that, too.’”