Aram Tigran

---

title: "Aram Tigran" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["20th-century-armenian-male-singers", "syrian-people-of-armenian-descent", "1934-births", "2009-deaths", "kurdish-language-armenian-singers", "people-from-qamishli"] description: "Syrian-Armenian singer" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Tigran" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Syrian-Armenian singer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
background	person
name	Aram Tigran
image	Peykerê Aramê Tîgran ê Farqînê 2012.JPG
caption	Statue of Aram Tigran in Silvan, Diyarbakir, Turkey
native_name	Aramê Dîkran
native_name_lang	Kurdish
birth_name	Aram Melikyan
birth_date	1934
birth_place	Qamishli, Syria
origin	Armenian, Kurdish
death_date	August 8, 2009
death_place	Athens, Greece
genre	Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac, Armenian
occupation	Singer, Musician
instrument	Oud
years_active	1953–2009
::

| background = person | name = Aram Tigran | image = Peykerê Aramê Tîgran ê Farqînê 2012.JPG | caption = Statue of Aram Tigran in Silvan, Diyarbakir, Turkey | native_name = Aramê Dîkran | native_name_lang = Kurdish | birth_name = Aram Melikyan | birth_date = 1934 | birth_place = Qamishli, Syria | origin = Armenian, Kurdish | death_date = August 8, 2009 | death_place = Athens, Greece | genre = Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac, Armenian | occupation = Singer, Musician | instrument = Oud | discography =

• "Heval Ferat"
• "Em hatin"
• "Aydil"
• "Diyarbekira serin"
• "Daye min berde"
• "Ay dilberê"
• "Ey Welato Em Heliyan"
• "Keçê Dinê"
• "Evîna Feqiyê Teyran"
• "Rabin"
• "Xazî Dîsa Zarbûma"
• "Kurdistan"
• "Serxwebûn Xweş E"
• "Zîlan"
• "Çîyayê Gebarê" | years_active = 1953–2009 | website = | spouse = | partner = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Peykerê_Aramê_Tîgran_ê_Farqînê_2012.JPG" caption="Silvan]], [[Diyarbakir, Turkey"] ::

Aram Tigran () or Aramê Dîkran (Kurdish rendering from Armenian), born Aram Melikyan (), (1934 – 8 August 2009) was a contemporary Syrian-Armenian singer who sang primarily in Kurdish. Among Assyrians in Qamishli, he was known as Aram Dikran.

Tigran was born in Qamishli in northeastern Syria to an Armenian family originally from Diyarbakır. Both of his parents were born in villages near the city Diyarbakır. His first Oud he received from his uncle at the age of six. After finishing ninth grade, he concentrated his efforts on learning music and playing Oud and in 1953 he gave his first public concert at the Newroz celebrations. By the age of twenty years, he was singing in four languages: Kurdish, Arabic, Assyrian and Armenian. In 1966 he moved to Yerevan, Armenia, at the time a part of the Soviet Union, where he was employed for eighteen years at Radio Yerevan. He left Armenia in 1995 and settled in Athens. He is considered among the best of contemporary Kurdish singers and musicians. He recorded 230 songs in Kurdish, 150 in Arabic, 10 in Syriac, 8 in Greek. In 2009 he was able to visit the villages, where his parents grew up in the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey), where he was welcomed in Diyarbakır and gave a concert at the Newroz celebrations in Batman.

Tigran died in Athens on August 8, 2009, in the Evangelismos General Hospital. Tigran wanted to be buried in Diyarbakır in Turkey, an aim supported by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), but the Turkish Ministry of the Interior refused this request, on grounds that he was not a Turkish citizen. Instead he was buried in Brussels, Cimetery of Jette and some soil from Diyarbakır was poured into his grave.

He was married and had three children.

Albums

• Çîyayê Gebarê, Aydın Müzik, 2004.
• Zîlan, Aydın Müzik, 2004.
• Serxwebûn Xweş E, Aydın Müzik, 2004.
• Kurdistan, Aydın Müzik, 2004
• Xazî Dîsa Zarbûma
• Rabin
• Evîna Feqiyê Teyran
• Keçê Dinê
• Ey Welato Em Heliyan
• Ay dilberê
• Daye min berde
• Diyarbekira serin
• Aydil
• Em hatin
• Heval Ferat

Notes

References

1. Korkut, Tolga. (10 August 2009). "Armenian Musician Aram Tigran to Be Buried in Diyarbakır".
2. (2009-08-12). "Armenian-Kurdish Musician Aram Tigran to Be Buried in Diyarbakır".
3. "The bard of the Middle East: Aram Tigran".
4. [http://www.ezdixan.com/content/view/201/71/ Interview with Aram Tigran] {{webarchive. link. (June 13, 2008 , (in Kurdish).)
5. (2015-04-01). "Turkey and the Armenian Ghost: On the Trail of the Genocide". McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP.
6. Kutay Kugay,[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1197/is_2_51/ai_n19295994 The way of Kurdish Music], [[Sing Out!]], Summer 2007.
7. http://www.mmo.org.tr/resimler/ekler/d7970532bfa1449_ek.pdf?dergi=413 page:2
8. Torgut, Tolga. (13 August 2009). "At Least Some Diyarbakır Soil for Aram Tigran".
9. "Armenian and Kurdish Musician Aram Tigran Dies".
10. [http://www.ianyanmag.com/?p=953 Armenian and Kurdish Musician Aram Tigran Dies], by Liana Aghajanian, Aug. 2009
11. (2014-07-18). "14 days in Diyarbakir".
12. (10 August 2020). "Why was Aram Tigran not allowed to be buried in Diyarbakır?".
13. "The bard of the Middle East: Aram Tigran".

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