Tara Jaff ( 2012) Tara Jaff ( ku, تارا جاف, Tara Gaf) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

who has been exposed to many ancient influences. Over the years, Jaff experimented with different

string instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...

s, but it was her fascination with the ancient

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

s of

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...

ia,

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

Hurrians The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern Mes ...

and

Elam Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...

, dating as far back as 3000 BC that led her to the contemporary

Celtic harp The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring great ...

. She has embraced this instrument and introduced to modern

Kurdish music Kurdish music refers to music performed in the Kurdish languages and Zaza-Gorani languages. The earliest study of Kurdish music was initiated by the renowned Armenian priest and composer Komitas in 1903, when he published his work ''" Chansons ku ...

, particularly in modern

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

s. Having developed her own innovative style to adapt to the various musical rhythms and modes of the region, Jaff brings a contemporary expression to an ancient form of music and song. Jaff has been living in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

since 1976World on Your Street
BBC Radio 3. and has performed widely, mainly as a solo artist, in concerts, festivals, galleries, conferences as well having appeared regularly on radio and television worldwide. Her occasional collaborations have been with a range of artists such as film-makers, story-tellers, poets, and painters. Jaff is also involved in

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

work where she takes her harp to

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

s to play soothing music for patients and staff.

Albums

# Diley Dêwanem, Kom Müzik, 200

#Asewar (Dialogue of Harp and Ney), 2012. #Tembur and Harp, 2015 Jaff, T. and Qochgiri, J.(2015).

iner notes Iner or INER may refer to: * Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, or INER * Iner Souster FemBots are a Canadian indie rock band from Toronto formed in 1998. FemBots are known for their unique sound of combining instrumental everyday items, junk ...

Tembur & Harp D Turkey: Sony Music.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaff, Tara 1958 births Living people Kurdish musicians Musicians from Baghdad Iraqi Kurdish women Iraqi emigrants to the United Kingdom Kurdish-language singers Harpists Women harpists Kurdish women singers