Karapetê Xaço or Karabêtê Xaço or Gerabêtê Xaço () (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 around the ...

singer of traditional Kurdish ''

Dengbêj Dengbêj () is a Kurdish music genre sung by 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 storytellers use Dengb ...

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

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

province, Turkey) in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

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, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

. 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 (, ), also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northernmost of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and the Caucasus and Khorasan regions. It is the ...

and his singing talent. He joined 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 (; , also referred to as the Levant States; 1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, concerning the territori ...

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 is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather th ...

in the

French Armenian Legion The Armenian Legion () was a volunteer unit that was raised by the Allied Powers to serve in the Middle East Theatre during World War I. Trained and led by French army commanders, the ''Légion d'Orient'' (Eastern Legion), as the unit was orig ...

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

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n city of

Qamishli Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of Nusaybin in Turkey. The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of 184,231, it is the List of cities in Syria, ninth most-po ...

, 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 (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia ...

and settled in

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

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 Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

. 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 of Armenia People from Batman, Turkey Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion Witnesses of the Armenian genocide Armenian genocide survivors 1900s births 2005 deaths