Kawîs Axa

Kawîs Axa (1889-1936) is among the first great Kurdish voices captured on record. His gramophone recordings from the early twentieth century preserved the high classical style of Kurmancî song from the Behdînan region: ornamented, unhurried, aristocratic in bearing. For today’s listeners those shellac-era recordings are a direct line into how Kurdish music sounded before radio, cassettes and studios reshaped it, and singers still measure themselves against his phrasing. He died young; his few recorded sides carry an outsized legacy.