Comedian Jiyan Khalaf’s upbringing was not an easy one after her family left northern Syria when she was a child and relocated to England, in 1999.
Settling in Huddersfield North, she found relocating “exceptionally hard”, as she felt trapped between adapting to her new homeland, and the long-held traditions associated with her Kurdish culture.
The only way to question and rebel against her circumstances peacefully was through comedy, which turned into her lifelong passion.
“I had to justify and process society’s political and cultural hypocrisy constantly. So, I thought why I don’t use laughter and comedy as a tool,” she said.
“But I thought democracy and equality had to start from home because there wasn’t any of that in our household and comedy was a tool for me to make the change.”
This strategy worked and she was able to get away with a lot more than she previously would’ve. She also made changes in her personal life and fought for her own independence.
In 2008, she created a satirical sketch where she spoke to her sister on the phone about how expensive things are back home.
The sketch went viral on social media, but at the same time she was criticised by her own community and told that “girls are not supposed to be acting in such a manner”.
“I started making sketches, which quickly went viral in 2008, due to the quick spread, I received a lot of interest from Kurdish media and was offered to work as a TV presenter for NRT TV, later I left as I felt Kurdistan was not a place where I can express freely.”
Ms Khalaf returned to the UK to complete her studies in architecture, where she worked for six months but felt that is not where she wants to be.
While studying at university she worked as a waitress at a Greek restaurant that she ended up managing. It was there that she developed a dream to one day open a Kurdish restaurant.
She then moved to Turkey and worked in international development for four years, where she got the opportunity to travel the world, gain experience, and meet people.
Ms Khalaf returned to the UK to be with her family and started her own business, which was a dream come true.
“I thought to myself if I get the opportunity to open a Kurdish restaurant and Kurdish food be part of European cuisine and to be my own boss. I ended up opening my own restaurant, Savaro, named after a Kurdish dish. I wanted to introduce Kurdish food to Europeans, 99 per cent of my customers are Europeans and it is a big success knock on wood.”
Despite her busy life running the restaurant, she still finds time to pursue her first passion, and it was her experiences as a migrant integrating into a society, which provided the subject matter.
“Integration is very important, such as learning the language, be part of that community in order to be part that society, so society then that will welcome you.”
Ms Khalaf made that into a comedy, where there were two sectors in society, one sector made it shameful and other sectors such as the educated and journalists would question her purpose of creating such videos.
The videos attracted a large following in Northern Kurdistan.
“This time I am attracting the young generation, which has been neglected by society’s old fashion rules, politics and media. My goal is to build a platform, to connect young talents and include them in building stronger foundations through, art and politics.”
Despite the critics, Ms Khalaf continues with her endeavours as a comedian and most importantly she has the strong support of her family and her husband.
“My father, my family, and my husband support me and to me, this is very important. I have learned a lot from being criticised - reasonable criticism, of course, it taught me a lot about society.“
Despite being isolated at home during the coronavirus pandemic and restricted from going out, she took the opportunity presented to her to get back into the passion she enjoys most.
“The world stopped, but it was an opportunity for me to get back into media, I had a lot of time on my hands, and I felt like I want to share, my energy, and laughter with people.
“So, I did by collaborating with very well-known Kurdish comedians, who were watching my videos when they were young.
“This time I returned to comedy by being well established financially, I returned stronger and better, and to be honest I missed it a lot so in a way, coronavirus worked for my benefit.”
Ms Khalaf was born in Qamishli, in the northeast Syrian region of Rojava in 1987. Her parents were forced to leave the country due to their political links.
Listen to Ms Khalaf's interview in Kurdish.
Source: Supplied
