ERBIL () - Kurdish musician and music educator Nergiz Aziz has launched an international project called the World Music Circle, designed to create musical dialogue between musicians from different world cultures while introducing Kurdish culture to a broader network of cultural connections, she told in an exclusive interview on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
"In this project, each time I meet with a musician from a different culture, and each one participates in the dialogue with their own instrument, technique, style, and musical tradition, without one culture being lost inside the other,"Aziz told.
On the role of cultural differences within the project, she was direct about their creative potential. "Cultural differences do not have to be an obstacle to creating a shared melody, but can instead become a source of creating a new artistic expression,"she said. "At the same time, each musician preserves their own playing style and musical identity."
Aziz described the project's primary goal as using music to introduce Kurdistan and Kurdish culture to the world. "One of the main objectives of the World Music Circle is to introduce Kurdistan and Kurdish culture through music and to build a living connection between Kurdish music and other cultures of the world,"she said.
Drawing on Kurdistan's history as a crossroads of civilizations, Aziz placed the project within a deep cultural context. "Kurdistan has historically been a place where civilizations, languages, music, and diverse traditions intersect, and therefore music can be an effective tool for showing that cultural diversity and commonality to the world,"she said.
On the power of music as a vehicle for diplomacy, Aziz offered a distinction that captures the project's underlying philosophy. "Art and music are powerful, but that power does not work through force. That is why it can become part of soft power and a tool for developing cultural diplomacy between Kurdistan and the world,"she said.
She described the origin of the project's concept as rooted in a fundamental belief about music's capacity to transcend boundaries. "The idea of this project came from the belief that music crosses borders and can carry the voice, ideas, and culture of an artist from one place to another, despite all differences,"she said. She added that she also wants, within the framework of the World Music Circle, to bring together the worlds of ancient and modern musical instruments through a new artistic expression and create a new musical synthesis from their combination.
The project has already produced its first collaboration. "I started the first work of this project with Swedish musician and artist Mons Billner, and this step will be the beginning of a series of musical dialogues that I will continue in the future with artists and musicians from different parts of the world,"Aziz confirmed.
Nergiz Aziz is a musician, music educator, and researcher specializing in the history and culture of musical instruments. Originally from Sulaimani, she is now based in Europe. She is a graduate of the Fine Arts Institute in Sulaimani and a student of the music and health faculty, and is currently conducting research into the history of musical instruments across different cultures.
