Zakaria Abdulla is a Kurdish music artist. He is best known for his pop music, which combines Kurdish melodies with various popular regional music styles.
Personal life
Zakaria Abdulla, was born in Erbil, Kurdistan, into a musical family which meant even from early childhood, he was interested in music. He left his homeland in the 1990s migrating to a number of European countries before finally settling in Sweden.
Career
He is regarded as an innovative artist who revolutionised Kurdish music. Breaking away from conventional 2-beat march-like rhythms used traditionally in Kurdish music, Zakaria began blending other genres and regional influences, defining a new style of modern Kurdish popular music. Zakaria has an established millennial fan base, but his music appeals to people of all ages.
1998–2003
In 1998, his first album To Hatî was well received by Kurdish audiences worldwide. It was recorded with the help of a popular Swedish musician. To Hatî was the lead single from the project and the music video released was the first of his career. Late on 1999, he released his second albumBigerêwe, with some Kurdish musicians in Sweden. Bigerêwe was released as a single from the album and a music video which was filmed in Sweden accompanied it In 2001 he released his third albumDaye, which comprised a mix of Fantezi and pop music. The music videos for the tracks Daye and Boçî hatî were shot in Arbil. In 2002, Zakaria released his silver albumRojgar, selling more than 1,500,000 copies. The album was recorded in Turkey. In this project, Zakaria utilised the regional musical influence known as Fantezi style. The hit video track from this album, Netbînim was shot in Istanbul, which was followed by another music video for the song Rojgar. The last video from this album was the kurdish dance hit Tu naza neke shot in Diyarbakir.
2004–present
His next album Têlinaz, released in October 2004, sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, introducing him to non-Kurdish audiences. Têlinaz was recorded in Turkey, and comprised a mix of Fantezi and Pop music. The video for the lead single Têlinaz was shot in Istanbul with a number of dancers and was also broadcast on Turkish television. January 2007, Zakaria released his sixth album, titled Gencî Pîrconsisting of 12 songs. The album was largely a work of Fantezi complemented with pop music and R&B. The song Roji Bextim became a successful R&B hit. Zakaria shot a music video for this album in Istanbul and Cappadocia, called Gullê, with an Italian model, playing the lead love interest. The video was released on 25 December of that year. 5 October 2008, Zakaria received the invitation to perform at the Re:orient festival in Sweden. To honour this invitation, he brought over 22 professional musicians from Kurdistan for the event. This was a first, for a Kurdish artist to request the company of such a large group of fellow musicians to come to Europe from Kurdistan. The concert took place in Stockholm Concert House and the performance was overall well received and was noted in Swedish media as a success. In November 2008 he receives the "Medal of honor", and was acknowledged amongst Iraq’s and Kurdistan’s greatest artists. This was to commend his career and commemorate him as an artist who raised Kurdish music to whole new dimension. There was a great number of attendees present at the ceremony which was broadcast live on 8 different Kurdish and Arabic channels. 7 April 2010 Zakaria released his latest album to date titled "Laperrey Spî", consisting of 14 tracks. All the benefits generated from the album was to be donated to organisations helping orphaned and impoverished children, especially those who are victims of war and through no fault of their own, deprived of education and schooling. Read more on his official website
