By: Azad Karimi
I am very, very grateful for all the early opportunities I got to perform in church or on the podium, already round my 20th birthday. I felt very proud to make my living out of singing even before I finished my studies in 2005.
Interview
Austrian Opera Singer Daniel Johannsen
By Azad Karimi
I want to clarify some things for the dear reader of this article:
I came from the land of Kurdistan and I am morally obliged to introduce the rituals, traditions, history, and folklore/literature of my people to the world. Because I have come to the point where I realize that anthropology promotes a culture of peaceful coexistence. The philosophy of tolerance teaches us how and by what means we can achieve a culture of peaceful coexistence. Of course, this must be universal. If only a few are loyal to tolerance and act on it and others act against it, this culture will remain only in the mind and is only an idea and of course, culture means the objective form of an idea and thought. Of course, what should the culture of peaceful life do if it is faced with a destructive onslaught and someone wants to destroy it? Does it have the right to defend himself? And by what means?
look! The defense debate ensued! It means facing the threat and eliminating that. But what are the tools of defense? Is it enough to think and sit and write and read without taking practical steps? are pragmatism and taking practical steps equal to violence? and what can be done so that our practical steps to create and spread a culture of tolerance do not lead to violence? And finally, what should we do if we are attacked, so that this radiant and wise thought is not destroyed?
Basically, what is the logic of defense formed for? Defending what valuable thing does force us to risk our lives to prevent its destruction? The motive for defending what valuable thing is forcing us to risk our lives to prevent its destruction? Defending the truth? Which truth? Is the truth of events a valuable concept that we must take the risk of defending?
Why? Because creation was accompanied by order, but especially in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, this cosmic order has been severely disrupted.
How? By promoting killing and violence in the world by destructive and dark-minded people. The mass killings of ethnic groups under the headings of ideology, economic hegemony, military exclusivism, and domination are disrupting this order in the world and sending negative signals to the universe.
And God knows what the reflection of these negative signals to the earth will be like. Creation has given dignity to beings. But the man on earth ignores this dignity. By destroying the sea, ocean, forest, river, mountain, plant and animal ecosystem and killing animals and humans.
Cosmic order and creation are the result of the perfectionism of the Creator. The Creator desires perfection, symmetry, and balance. So if his creatures go out of this cycle, disorder and destruction will occur.
This order is a cycle that moves from west to east and creates time.
This cycle is called *Gardoun* or *Round left wheel* or in Kurdish: Charkhi Chap-Garr.
Because according to the ancient Kurdish beliefs that are crystallized in the Ezidi texts: first, it was darkness, then the particle changed and turned red, and then it exploded and the universe came into being. That is, the evolution and desire for creation in the particle began when the big bang happened and the energy was released and the creation began. This explosion and release of energy was accompanied by heat, light, sound, and ionization, which created the elements and created the elements of matter, and created the composition of the materials of life, that is, motion and thought. and balance came into play: Heat and cold, black and white, light and darkness, prosperity and stagnation, laziness and dynamism, stillness and movement, ignorance and wisdom and the concept of life and death.
And life is beautiful for living things. If it were not so, the deer would not have escaped from the wolf and the zebra from the tiger. But man fears man, animal, poisonous plants, sea, mountain, darkness, fire, tornado, and death. Man is afraid of anything unknown at the same time, it tends to immortality.
All these fears lead man to ignorance, superstition, illusion, greed, jealousy, avarice, injustice, betrayal, theft, and moral corruption. and everyone from the angle of himself existence with these ugly traits decides to take possession of the property of others and competitions, conflicts, tensions, and wars begin. This is where we say that the cosmic order is out of balance.
Now that I am writing, it is the evening of December 20th. The ancestors of the Kurds called this night "Chla" or Hallaat )The appearance of light, the emergence( and in Syriac called it Yalda. Chla means the beginning of a forty-day period, the Mithraic Mogus fasted during this period. Of course, the modern-Mithraic or Kurdish Ezidi- followers this custom, and their fast have started two days ago.
According to Kurdish Mithraic beliefs, the struggle of darkness and lightness for the inheritance of the Time heritage (the father of the two) begins now
and it continues, until tomorrow, when the first rays of the sun shine on the earth to the *East*, and the morning begins. This first ray shone somewhere in the East, a rugged plain surrounded by mountains and a river flowing through it. Which in Sumerian texts is known as Shuruppak and in Akkadian and Assyrian texts as Surigash and is the residence of Izad Sur. Izad Sur is the guardian of the sun disk. At the point where the light shone on the ground, a temple was built, which was called the Temple of Aruna or Waruna(Mars) and was guarded by Sudra or Khdr(Elijah).
On the morning of December 21th , Ized Mahr-Taws is born, he is the guardian of the sun's rays. He fought with Ized Sur and defeated him and Ized Sur swore allegiance to him and gave him his fiery chariot. The name of this fiery wheel is Charkh in Kurdish. It is said that Mahr-Taws came from the heart of a rock. He had a torch and a knife in his hand. His birth coincides with the rising of the sun on Shuruppak.
Mahr-Taws or Mall also fought with Izad of War and Struggle. Wahran (Waruna, Aruna, Mars) and defeated him. He also served Mahr-Taws. As well as the Ized Tarutush, the Ized of Rain and Thunder served Mar-Taws. And Ized Haane the Ized of water, rivers, and springs served Mahr-Taws.
This happens when we enter the sign of Warmz from the sign of Tirawej.
When Mar-Taws was born, the Ized of the dawn or the Spiwini (Aso) in the eastern sky opened the way for the first rays of the sun to reach the earth.
Ized Suruj, warrior and evangelist Ized, was happy to see the red horizon and roared. He carried the Ized Mar-Taws in his fiery chariot and passed through the realm of the Ized Spiwani and came to the Earth and land of Shuruppak.
He shouted: The Ized Mar-Taws is coming! He is the messenger of light, love, traits of heroism and bravery, justice, honesty and covenant.
The Ized of justice, the Ized Rass or Rahaa, also joined the Ized Mar-Taws. He had a scale in his hand.
The Ized Mar-Taws came to the land of Shuruppak on the day of the Wermz or the first day or the day of the sun that shone on the earth. Mar-Taws sacrificed the cow, killed the boar, drank the holy wine (Khuma), and went to the sun with the fiery chariot of the Ized Sur and with him. He has a black stone in his right hand. This stone is called Sye Sangen and is used to test people's actions in the scale of justice of Ized Rass. The basis of measuring the actions of human beings in the culture of the Ized Mar-Taws is his science and knowledge.
All of this is the basis of mysticism and Gnosticism, which describes the philosophy of the creation of the universe and the creatures and the story of how they were created. All of this is before the creation of man, so these times are related to the time of myth, and it took hundreds of thousands of years for man to be created and the stories of the Bible to begin. And the age of mythology is the prelude to the creation of man and the entry into historical time.
Tomorrow is the day of Khoryan or Wermz Roj. It means the celebration of the sun. The occasion of this celebration is related to the arrival of the first rays of the sun on the earth by the Ized Mar-Taws.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeeGTva-q54
Mysticism/Gnosticism or belief in myths means believing in the cosmic order, creation, fighting ignorance, injustice, infidelity, betrayal, and lying which is in the logic of the appearance of light in the darkness.
But why the light in the darkness?
Zur’s myth or Zurwanism says that the Creator created the manifestations of light and darkness in the Ized Zurwan belly. They were twin brothers: Angere Manu(Ngrisa) and Spita Manu(Aspinte). Angre Manu tricked his brother and tore his father’s belly, Ized Zurwan, and came out sooner. By dominating the universe, he wanted to impose the logic of darkness on the philosophy of existence in thought and in the world but his brother Aspinte Manu quarreled with him and a fierce battle broke out between the two brothers. The two wrestled together. Eventually, Zur the father of the two, proposed that the administration of the world be divided into millenniums and the administration of the world be in the hands of Negrise for a thousand years and in the hands of Aspinte for a thousand years for the sake of justice between twins.
The mysticism of light in the dark is the source of faith in the victory of right over wrong,
the victory of justice over oppression, and the victory of loyalty over betrayal, and the victory of honesty over falsehood and on the last day, the Ized Mar-Taws returns and calculates the deeds of people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nlAt0s0h8A
Hoping for the eternal victory of light over darkness. I congratulate everybody on the celebration of the ‘Jajni Khoryan’ and the birthday of the Ized Mar-Taws ‘Yalda’.
I wish happiness to my dear friend Daniel. God bless him and his country Austria.
Thank You!
Vestland-Norway
1.Please present yourself: Name, education, Civil status and...
.My name is Daniel Johannsen. I was born in 1978 and am an Austrian singer for oratorio, lied and opera. Robert Holl, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Nicolai Gedda were amongst my teachers. I live in Vienna and am in a relationship with another musician.
2-What is your artistic speciality?
.Well, people who like my singing (especially my Bach interpretations) keep saying that I’d tell the gospel, the “story” of St John or St Matthew Passion, like noone else. So, the role of the Bach evangelist might be my “best feature”...
3.When and how did you become interested in these fields of art?
.I started my musical studies as an organist and church musician ― my father used to be a Lutheran vicar in my home village, that’s why sacred music (especially hymns and choral repertoire) was my first encounter with classical music. And the love for this kind of art didn’t stop growing ever since!
4.Who was your motivator?
.I already mentioned my world renowned mentors. But it was Mrs Margit Klaushofer, my first singing teacher, who motivated me in the most important and effective way.
5.What was your parent’s reaction?
.My beloved parents fully supported me on the path of my musical education. The only thing my father didn’t approve in the beginning were my operatic attempts. But as he noticed my proper success also in this field, he started to enjoy both my comic and tragic stage appearences as well!
6.When did you become such a professional Musician-Singer?
.I am very, very grateful for all the early opportunities I got to perform in church or on the podium, already round my 20th birthday. I felt very proud to make my living out of singing even before I finished my studies in 2005.
7.Are you thankful and happy because of your activities as an artist?
.Certainly! And more than that! I am Christian and feel the utmost gratitude towards God for such a life, filled and ornamented with the most beautiful art, being part of an amazingly earnest and gifted musical fellowship.
8.How do you see the view about art, music, singing, culture?
.Arts and culture are “staple food” for our souls. Without this nutrition, our hearts starve and freeze. Period.
9.Can you become one part of the cultural movement for motivation in youth or new generations in your country and so on?
.I started to teach privately a few years ago. It is SUCH a fulfilling skill! I owe so much to my brilliant masters; it is a duty to share it with the next generations! Thus, I also keep applying for educational positions in music colleges and universities.
10.How can you help our world become a better place to live?
.Hopefully with all the ideas and skills mentioned above!
11.Have you more words to say or suggest for our readers?
.And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. (Luke 6:31)
https://www.youtube.com/user/dschonnie
