Karapetê Xaço or Karabêtê Xaço or Gerabêtê Xaço ( hy, Կարապետ Խաչո) (September 3, 1900 Salihe Kevirbiri, ''Bir Çığlığın Yüzyılı: Karapetê Xaço'', Si Yayınları, İstanbul, 2002,
p. 66.
or 1903 or 1908 - January 15, 2005), was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

singer of traditional Kurdish ''

Dengbêj Dengbêj is a Kurdish music genre and/or a singer of the music genre Dengbêj. Dengbêjs are singing storytellers. There have been many terms to describe Dengbêjs throughout history, but today Dengbêj is the best known, and also several singing s ...

'' music. Karapetê Haço was born in the village of Bileyder (now called Binatlı, Batman, in

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

province, Turkey) in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

to an

family in 1900. In 1915, he witnessed the annihilation of his village during the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

. Xaço, his brother Abraham, and sisters Manuşak and Xezal survived the massacre, as a soldier spared them dues to them being orphaned. He was saved by his knowledge of

Kurmanji Kurmanji ( ku, کورمانجی, lit=Kurdish, translit=Kurmancî, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northern dialect of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Sy ...

and his singing talent. He jouned the Kurdish rebels during the Sheikh Said Rebellion and had to flee to Syria in the

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...

after the rebellion was defeated. At a young age, he began taking a liking for music and would sing old Kurdish folk songs that were passed on through generations. He worked as a

mercenary soldier A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

in the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

for nearly 15 years.Salihê Kevirbirî
The Armenian Origin Master Dengbêj
in pen-kurd.org He married Yeva of the Azizyan family in the Syrian city of

Qamishli Qamishli ( ar, ٱلْقَامِشْلِي, Al-Qāmišlī, ku, قامشلۆ, Qamişlo, syc, ܒܝܬ ܙܠܝ̈ܢ, Bēṯ Zālīn, lit=House of Reeds or syr, ܩܡܫܠܐ, translit=Qamishlo)

, where he was a legionnaire in 1936. They had four daughters and a son. After Syria gained its independence, he and his family migrated to

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

and settled in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

in 1946. He formulated his experiences of the genocide. Karapete Xaço worked for the Kurdish language service of Yerevan Radio and was popular among the

Kurdish people ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

. Xaço later became one of the greatest singers of ''Dengbêj'' music, a form of singing that often tells a story. He died on January 15, 2005. The hundreds of Kurdish ''dengbêj'' songs are considered to be one of the key elements in preserving Kurdish culture and history. Xaço was best known for singing and recording the traditional songs "Ay lo mîro", "Adullê", "Çume Cizîre", "Xim ximê", and "Lê dayikê". Since he recorded them, variations of these songs have been recorded by several different artists to this day.

Sources

Documentary

*Mehmet Aktaş, ''Dengekî Zemanê Bere: Karapêtê Xaço: Voice from the Past'' (Belgium: Medya TV, 2000). {{DEFAULTSORT:Xaco, Karapete 20th-century Armenian male singers Armenians from the Ottoman Empire Kurdish-language singers People from Batman, Turkey Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion Witnesses of the Armenian genocide Armenian genocide survivors 1900s births 2005 deaths