By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti

BARCELONA, Spain – Pervin Chakar owes her opera career to a CD that changed her life: It was the voice of internationally renowned diva Maria Callas, and the moment Chakar heard her she knew what she wanted to do with her own life.

“During my early studies I had won a writing competition and at the party for the young writers I was asked to sing, because I was the only one there with a musical background Chakar,” recounted to Rudaw in an interview. “The head of the competition committee was impressed with my voice and gave me a CD from the American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas.”

At the time, Chakar knew nothing about opera, and would sing mostly folk songs. The CD stayed unheard for four years, until the aspiring singer could afford to buy a player.

“When I went to Gazi University in Ankara to study singing I got my first scholarship and bought a CD player. When I listened to Callas I was inspired by her voice, and decided to become an opera singer,” said Chakar, who was 22 at the time.

The Kurd, who is now in her early 30s, began singing folk songs at the age of 14. It was after she won in a singing competition in Diyarbakir province that her family recognized her talent for music and sent her to the Fine Arts High School in Diyarbakir. She was also learning violoncello at the time at the Anatolian Fine Arts High School.

Her first steps in the bel canto -- an Italian opera term meaning beautiful singing -- were in the Gazi University in Ankara, where she studied vocal techniques and opera interpretation with Oylum Erdayi. “She opened my mind and taught me the opera world. And then my voice and my technique were developed very early.”

Then, Chakar’s musical career took another turn, transporting her to Italy, the birthplace of opera.

“I was working at the Ankara State Opera House and sang for the Italian opera manager, who had come to Ankara to scout for new voices,” Chakar recalled.

He invited the 23-year-old to sing in Italy, where she continued her studies in music, finishing with a Master’s degree from the Conservatory of Music of Perugia, where she now lives.

“Opera is not part of my culture,” she explained. “So many singers are moving to Europe to develop their profession and art. I moved from Kurdistan nine years ago, because I wanted to become an international opera singer. With this purpose, I studied a lot of techniques and interpretation in Italian operas.”

Although she is doing what she loves best, she said it has not been an easy road.

“This type of profession takes a lot of sacrifices,” she explained. “I have always worked to continue my musical studies, and I had to do odd jobs to get ahead. But I am very proud and satisfied to have passed difficult times, because this has given me more strength in my life,” she said. “I think that crying and sadness have made me mature, and then I manage to convey these emotions in my singing.”

All the hard work has paid off with a string of awards at international competitions, most recently in 2011. That year, she won the International Maria Caniglia Singing Competition, as well as first place and special prize at the Lotte Lehmann Foundation in New York for best female voice.

Chakar made her debut in Italy in 2006 at the Teatro Rosetum in Milan. Since arriving in Europe, she has met with great opera singers, like Spanish Montserrat Caballe, who also mentored her.

Besides opera, Chakar also loves traditional ethnic music and especially jazz and blues. She enjoys singing Kurdish folk songs in the opera technique, and listening to Kurdish musicians like Gani Mirzo, Sakina Teyna, Tara Jaff, Nizamettin Aric and Sivan Perwer.

Chakar is now looking forward to a debut at the Teatro Petruzzelli, in the Italian city of Bari, where some of the world’s greatest singers and dancers have performed.

Despite her career and life in Italy, the Kurd from Turkey has not forgotten home. She intends to establish a world music festival in her native Diyarbakir and in Mardin.

Rudaw