so this omar souleyman guy (RFI, RFD)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BzbVmjyhvHI/S_qhkb5sskI/AAAAAAAABVk/B4EGv5Rgp5U/s400/souleyman_T_1.JPG

In response to this article: http://arabicpress.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/omar-souleymans-rise-to-indie-hipster-semifame/

I enjoyed the article and agreed with what it had to say, but this paragraph:

These types of statements compounded with a tendency for the “Western listener” to understand music on his/her terms and a refusal to accept that music can serve a variety of purposes in different cultures, makes me even more doubtful that music has the capacity to function as a “cultural bridge” of any sort. Listening to music for pure enjoyment is fine, but no one should claim that it brings them closer to understanding a culture.

...seems a little off, especially considering when he played the Arab American fest here, there were huge circles of all sorts of middle eastern people mixed with all sorts of hipsters all dancing together. I don't know if everyone was coming closer to understanding each other's culture, but it still seemed to have more power than this author gives creedence.

both the article & the responses make for really good & interesting reading

Was at both Central Park and Issue shows. Issue (BK) show was best for me because he played in a small courtyard where the reverb made everything sound like it was coming out of minaret loudspeakers. Kind of fuzzy and slightly distorted but amazing sounding. Plus there was a nice crowd dancing thruout the show right in front of the stage so the energy level was kept up. Central Park crowd by the stage seemed to dig the awful opening jam band much more and were mostly confused it seemed.

both the article & the responses make for really good & interesting reading

agreed. Before the European tour last year, Omar & his band had never left the region.

One thing that is great about Omar Souleymann is how full on his music is... for all that the indie hipsters are supposedly embracing him, he is more like a Syrian Scooter than a Syrian [insert name of currently kewl hipster band].

Also, YELLA!

Thinking about hitting the London gig on the 28th. Apparently he will be "Performing both a rare Mawal set and a Dabke/Choubi set". I have the first Sublime Frequencies records but apart from that am pretty ignorant; Dabke/Choubi is what SF have put out, right? The best idea I've found of what Mawal would be is this Youtube; people in the know, is this representative?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzDWceu3n9w

I think the frenetic stuff on the Omar Souleyman records is dabke. I am a bit vaguer on what Choubi music is - the wonderful SF compilation "Choubi Choubi" suggests that it is mainly women saying "Choubi" over a less frenetic Arabic/synthy musical accompaniment. Mawal, no idea, but I am sure it will be awesome.

Saw him last night with Dengue Fever (they played first and Omar and his keyboard player did one song with that Cambodian/Los Angeles group) in W. DC. Souleyman's keyboard player manages to sample and play all kinds of instruments featured in dabke and whatever Arabic dancemusic and disco beats out of his two keyboards, while Souleyman sang, chanted and did his little fist-moving dance movements.

that's pretty much what happens, yes.

he was best in the first four songs of an open rainstorm; that was a series of songs to remember.

DC gig was not too crowded. Indie-rock club 930 did not try to reach out to DC's Arabic-speaking community. Some were there though

Was there an NYC date already and I missed it?

Google seems to suggest Souleyman and Dengue Fever were at Webster hall Monday June 4. Don't see any reviews.

Omar Souleyman -- 2012 Tour Dates
6/4 Webster Hall New York, NY*
6/5 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA*
6/6 9:30 Club Washington, DC*
9/1-3 Bumbershoot Seattle, WA
9/5-9 MusicFestNW Portland, OR
9/9 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA w/ Hot Chip and Passion Pit
* - w/ Dengue Fever

Mahmoud Harbi is a long-time collaborator and the man responsible for much of the poetry sung by Souleyman. Together, they commonly perform the "Ataba," a traditional form of folk poetry used in Dabke. On stage, Harbi chain smokes cigarettes while standing shoulder to shoulder with Souleyman, periodically leaning over to whisper the material into his ear.

No Harbi onstage in W. DC

highway to hassake is spectacular. i love the frenetic dabke stuff but the slower sadder songs sung in ataba style, (or "ataaba"?), e.g. "Jalsat Ataba," are really wonderful. i don't know really anything about syrian music though, what are some other artists to explore if i like souleyman and some of the various styles he performs?

other artists or collections, albums, etc.

Can't really help with Syrian debka along these lines (maybe Ali Aldik's 2004 album with "Aloush" would be close?), but you might like this. The sounds get slightly trippier later in the performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCjeLyqlBI0

(Really biting my tongue here, to tell you the truth.)

New album "Wenu Wenu," produced by Fourtet, is cool:
http://www.npr.org/2013/10/13/230176762/first-listen-omar-souleyman-wenu-wenu

was worried it might be downtempo but so far this bangs. little bit clean-sounding for me, maybe.

ok this is excellent, need to hear it properly i guess before i judge the sound

some minor intrigue at the bottom of this thread:
S/D : Sublime Frequencies

looks like somebody agrees with me re: the production

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24571762

wonder what it is about omar souleyman in particular. the hype totally passed me by, but i heard one of his songs on some international music radio show and it definitely caught my ear.

really good article from earlier in the year:

http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/syria-on-the-cusp-of-hipness-then-fading

I've spoken to a couple of Middle Eastern people who are a bit annoyed by his success and the kind of exoticism they detect behind it because he's, they say, just a wedding singer like any other. I dunno what to think about that other than that Middle Eastern weddings must be pretty cool.

I posted the below on the Rolling "world" music 2013 thread;

Jamie XX and Four Tet guy are into "African music" (not sure what genres. Well, Four Tet's Kieran produced Omar Souleyman)

He went on to discuss his current leanings, explaining: "[I've been] picking up old records and a lot of African music. I've been enjoying the melodies and how different the song structuring process is, and especially how danceable it is. I was speaking to [Four Tet's] Kieran Hebden a while ago and he was recommending me a lot of records in that vein... I feel like I've been absorbing a lot of that production wise. All the records that I collect work their way into the music that I make in some way or another, but I think in terms of the African influence it's becoming more visible."

http://pitchfork.com/news/50045-jamie-xx-says-hes-working-with-big-name-pop-artists-on-african-influenced-new-music/

― curmudgeon, Monday, October 21, 2013 2:14 PM (

And yes I know where Syria is...

the new one is really banging + psychedelic and i've listened to some other syrian wedding music that doesn't really compare. i think esp the new album is something very special. some of the older stuff didn't make much of an impression on me.

Yeah instant love for this over here, was blasting it all yesterday

that other dabke compilation that came out was, tho mb not quite as neat, v banging. wld be curious about similar arab music because ive not found owt

yeah i love this, and i didn't really get into dabke 2020

bringing to mind natacha atlas for me which is prob wildly ignorant

prefer Dabke 2020 on initial listens to the new one, but both are v good

there is probably an inevitable tokenism/exoticism attached to any crossover artist - much more so for artists whose audience has been restricted geographically - but it's hard to blame newcomers for not being familiar with a genre they didn't know existed until the crossover artist came along

This is completely banging but I would never in a million years have guessed that Kieran Hebden produced it because there are virtually no concessions to modern dance music and most of the electronic elements sound like they were recorded in 1991.

i see what you did there

there are virtually no concessions to modern dance music and most of the electronic elements sound like they were recorded in 1991.

I don't know enough about back then to weigh in, or about older Souleyman releases but I see that a Sublime Frequencies guy who once worked with Souleyman is asserting that the new one is not as good as older ones, as is someone from Quietus. I saw Souleyman live once and have heard some of his old and some of his new stuff (and similar sounds from others), but have not listened close enough to pick up the trainspotting differences.

so someone who's not working with him anymore and whose label is in dispute with him is claiming his new stuff isnt as good then

Per that comment from s1ocki, this article, which I should have linked yesterday and which you are all to read right now:

http://www.spin.com/articles/omar-souleyman-wenu-wenu-feature/

...makes it clear that Sublime Frequencies, at the least, has a vested interest in saying what it does.

And as NickB pointed out a bit upthread, Doran's post the other day has a little more context. It's worth noting that he says he's good with both labels involved, so I'm not taking sides either -- but as Doran says, there's something worth noting here.

I wish I had seen the the first version of the Spin piece

[UPDATE: It has come to our attention that representatives for the Sublime Frequencies label were not given an appropriate opportunity to respond to accusations made in quotes in this article. In the interest of fairness, we have removed a paragraph and significantly altered a second. SPIN regrets the error.]

huh

That is VERY interesting. In the original story, there was a statement about how SF refused to comment, or something similar.

lolling at Matt's comment that went over my head the first time.

thank god we are all able to make up our own minds about the quality of the album w/out SF letting us know what to think -- or do i misunderstand the nature of the controversy here?

It is a shame this sideshow could be giving people a bad impression of the album because it is excellent.

the real shame is how many sheeple on this thread are letting SF tell us what to think

Terrible. Free Omar!

yes

update! he's free - after being sent to "a detention center for people due to be deported"

https://ra.co/news/76422

now thats the news we wanted to hear!

also this:

He has lived in Turkey since the onset of the Syrian civil war, running, among other things, a free bakery in Urfa.

Still, just like in China, you can't become too popular without getting your chains rattled by the government every now and then, apparently. :-/