Background
Karapetê Haço was born in the village of Bileyder (now called Binatlı, Batman, in Batman province, Turkey) in the Ottoman Empire to an Armenian family in 1900.
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Karapete Xaco
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In 1915, he witnessed the annihilation of his village during the Armenian Genocide. He was saved by his knowledge of Kurmanji and his singing talent. 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 in the French Foreign Legion for nearly 15 years.
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.
Xaço later became one of the greatest recorders 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.
Politics
He and his family migrated to Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and settled in Yerevan in 1946.
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Born
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Died
January 15, 2005 (aged 104) -
Nationality
Armenia -
Ethnicity