Duisburg prepares Kurdish hologram concert featuring five music legends

A concert planned for Duisburg, Germany, on Nov. 17 will use hologram technology to present five Kurdish music figures on stage: Mihemed Şêxo, Erdewan Zaxoyî, Zozan, Cengîz Yazgî and Kerîm Şêxo. The programme will also feature Zozan C, an artificially generated singer, in an event being presented as the first Kurdish concert of its kind. The production is intended to give audiences the impression of a live stage performance while pairing remembered artists with AI-generated music. Preparations remain under way, with particular emphasis on the technology behind the show. Zozan C described it in a recorded message to Kurdistan24 as “the first Kurdish hologram concert” and said Germany had provided the opportunity to stage it, while expressing hope that a future edition could also be held in the Kurdistan Region. The event also draws on Zozan C’s existing musical work. The digital singer has performed classical Kurdish poetry in song, including through Dîwana Nemiran, or “Divan of the Immortals,” which adapts poems by prominent Kurdish poets into musical performances. Kurdistan24 aired an excerpt of one of those AI-generated works in its report on the concert. Zozan C was created by Bijar Koban, according to SBS Kurdish. Koban said the project grew from his concern with perceptions that some people could not speak Kurdish, and that it was intended to offer a cosmopolitan, artistic and intellectual image of Kurdish urban life. He began experimenting with AI music tools after uploading verses by the poet Cegerxwîn and refining the output with detailed prompts. Koban has said that visuals, animation and music are developed separately, sometimes over several days. His prompts stress Kurdish motifs and the preservation of a song’s melodic and lyrical spirit. He has also identified copyright as a major constraint: unclear ownership and fragmented archives have meant some works were removed after rights holders objected to AI use, leading him to rely largely on his own poems and compositions. Virtual performances have used holograms and AI to create shows involving music legends. The music industry commonly uses “hologram” for digital video projected on to a translucent screen, creating the appearance that a virtual artist is interacting with musicians and an audience, according to The Conversation. Such shows have prompted enthusiasm as well as objections over authenticity and the limits of digitally recreating live charisma.