Abdullah Herki wails, “Come out! Where’s the groom?” before his keyboardist blazes into a frenetic solo to get the wedding crowd in Dohuk, a city in Iraqi Kurdistan, onto the dance floor. Dancers intertwine their pinky fingers and the line dance snakes around the hall, with the bride’s brother in front, whirling the cushion the newlyweds will later use to consummate their wedding.

Kurdish weddings can last days, evoking a marathon. One wedding guest explained to Al-Monitor, “This is the moment we all wait for. Everything leads up to the wedding.” Given the importance of weddings in Kurdish culture, musicians play a key role in curating a sonic aesthetic for the festivity.

Since Kurds in the Middle East are dispersed throughout different countries, it's more useful to compare the different strains of Kurdish wedding music along linguistic lines (Kurmanji, Sorani, Gorani and Zaza) or topographic lines (plains vs. mountains), rather than national boundaries.

Kurdish wedding music emphasizes collective dancing. However, Kurds proudly point out that men and women frequently dance together. These wedding dances typically begin as simple line dances, but the complexity and speed of the dances build throughout the night. Some dancers break out into expressive fits, either in a circle, semi-circle, a pair or solo. Divisions exist in dances that parallel the linguistic divisions in the Kurdish language. Kurmanji dancers stand erect, hands held straight down at the sides — known as the "Kurdish hand hold" — and hop with sharp movements, while Sorani dancers employ simpler steps, rhythmically moving their shoulders up and down while whirling with the music.