Lorî: the Kurdish lullaby

The lorî is the Kurdish lullaby: the first music any Kurdish child hears, sung in a rocking two-note sway that gives the form its name. Behind its gentleness lies one of the tradition’s most personal genres: mothers have always poured into the lorî what could not be said aloud, from private grief to the fate of the people, which is why some of the most moving recordings in Kurdish music are lullabies. The form exists in every region and dialect, from Kurmancî lorî to Soranî and Zazakî variants, and modern singers regularly return to it as a vessel for their quietest material.