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In the first days of October 2014, massive protests are shaking Turkey. On the Syrian border, the town of Kobanî, mostly inhabited by Kurds, is besieged by the Islamic State. All the way from its bloodied ruins, Kobanî 's scream of pain is heard on the other side of the border. Thousands of people descend into the streets of Istanbul and eastern towns of Turkey. They want to challenge the Turkish government, whom they accuse of supporting the Islamic State.

I walk through the agitated crowds and I hear the screams and shouts of a language that I do not understand. The free flowing flags of "Her biji Kobanî", "Biji Berxerdana Kobanî" amongst other strange slogans bewilder my understanding.

But I also see Kobanî, the word, the symbol, that is proudly sung by the protestors. Today, they honor through their own songs, poems and hymns the ruins of the martyred city.

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I. A song for Kobanî

It looks like I'm back in time for supper. Mîste and his friends have gone back home earlier from the protests to avoid the police. We all sit down on the living room carpets. Mîste's computer is displaying in the meantime a Youtube playlist of his choice.

I have known Mîste since my arrival in Turkey. This young musician lives in Diyarbakir, in the south-east of Turkey. I ask him to explain the meaning of all these strange slogans from the demo. "Her bijî Rojava means long live Rojava !" What on earth is Rojava ? "Didn't you know ? It's the new autonomous region that has been created around Kobanî. The Kurds can govern their own territory now".

Every day, Mîste and his friends try to keep in touch with the news from the border. Musicians from the guerilla regularly broadcast new songs on the Internet. Mîste shows me the video of a female YPG fighter (People's protection units, the armed unit of the Kurds in Syria) reciting verses of "Kobanî îro xemgîn e". He translates me the first rhymes.

I am starting to grasp the importance of Kobanî for Mîste. Some of his own friends have left for the border, and he still awaits their news. But despite all his fears about the siege, Kobanî has become an inspiration for his music.

"In Kurdish, Kobanî means company" says Mîste. "And when us Kurds can't take up arms, we write songs for the fighters". He proudly shows me his instrument of choice, a grand tambourine named erbane. "When Kurdish fighters go to war, they play the erbane".

Who writes all of these songs ? "There's a saying that all Kurds are poets, that we all write and sing songs when we feel like it". From his balcony, Mîste shows me the black walls of Diyarbakır : "I want to show you an important place for Kurdish music. Before you go back to Istanbul, you must absolutely visit it".

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