Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 ‘My heart is on fire’: Singing a Kurdish Past -- 2 ‘It would disappear within a moment’: Performing Tradition -- 3 ‘A language is a life, and art is a bracelet’: A Landscape of Silence -- 4 ‘Decorate your heart with the voice of the dengbêjs’: Cultural Activism -- 5 Songs Crossing Borders: Musical Memories of a Family on the Run -- Bibliography -- Index.

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The Sung Home tells the story of Kurdish singer-poets ( dengbêjs ) in Kurdistan in Turkey, who are specialized in the recital singing of historical songs. After a long period of silence, they returned to public life in the 2000s and are presented as guardians of history and culture. Their lyrics, life stories, and live performances offer fascinating insights into cultural practices, local politics and the contingencies of state borders. Decades of oppression have deeply politicized and moralized cultural and musical production. Through in-depth ethnographic analysis Hamelink highlights the variety of personal and social narratives within a society in turmoil. Set within the larger global stories of modernity, nationalism, and Orientalism, this study reflects on different ideas about what it means to create a Kurdish home.

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