“My Sunset-Land, ROJAVA” is retelling the tale of a heart-sore nomad (a Kamanche) from Kurdistan, where tunes are born in her every brief stop she takes for a nap while passing the unwanted confines of the torn land of the Kurds. Every morning before sunrise settles, Kamanche abandons the spot leaving a newborn Stran (song)…”

My Sunset-Land Rojava is an instrumental musical project for Kamanche (Spike-fiddle) which was initiated in 2014 by Shahriyar Jamshidi to highlight the lives of hundreds of Kurdish women who bravely fought and lost their lives for the freedom of Rojava (Western Kurdistan in North Syria) from radical ISIL group. As the project was funded by both Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council, the album was publicized online (only) due to the pandemic in June 2020.

Now, we are delighted to make the first public album release event for My Sunset-Land Rojava at the heritage and lovely musical space “Canadian Music Center” in downtown Toronto. In connection with the philosophy of the project, we would love to gather and have conversations to feature the “Jin Jiyan Azadi”, Women-Life-Freedom, revolution which has shaken the world by reverberating the Kurdish women’s movements in Rojava. For this purpose, we are pleased to have:

• Dr. Shahrzad Mojab, professor at the University of Toronto
• Sinem Eylem Arslan, ethnomusicologist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto

in our discussion panel.

Shahriyar Jamshidi will also perform Kamanche solo and walk us through the journey of producing the project during the event.
“My Sunset-Land, ROJAVA” album is available to purchase at the event. Get your copy which is covered with the dazzling artwork of the world-known Kurdish artist and activist Zehra Doğan and will be autographed by Shahriyar Jamshidi.

All profits from selling the albums are going to the organization to support surviving “Indigenous Yazidis (Êzidî) Women” from the IS genocide in Iraq and Syria.