Rewşan Çeliker

Rewşan Çeliker — Biography

Rewşan Çeliker, known simply as Rewşan, is a violinist, singer, songwriter and collector of traditional songs who performs mainly in the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish. She is known for reviving forgotten Kurdish songs in her solo career; her first album of original compositions, Hinar (2024), marks a turn towards her own words and music.

Born in Tatvan, she lived in Bitlis until the age of 13, then moved with her family to Mersin, where she finished high school. While studying guidance and psychological counselling at Ankara University she took music and creative-drama classes; she later completed a master's degree in acting at Bahçeşehir University and studied violin and viola at Pera Fine Arts in Istanbul. She was among the founders of the Istanbul Film Music Orchestra and played with the Barış Melodileri Symphony Orchestra in Armenia. She also created and presented the documentary series Dengên Bakur, recording the voices of Kurdish women dengbêjs.

Her solo career began in 2018 with Ax Lê Wesê, and she drew her repertoire from the Kurdish archives of Yerevan and Baghdad radio and from the collections of Gomidas Vartabed. Tov followed in 2020. In 2023 came Live Session Vol. 1 and her first European tour, and in 2024 Live Session Vol. 2 and Hinar, from which Nayê and Bêri were released as singles. She performs in Diyarbakır and Batman.