People who listen to obscure music from the Arab world have known Omar Souleyman for a long time. The Syrian born singer, currently living in Turkey for obvious reasons, became popular in the Western world following the release of three albums by the American label Sublime Frequencies, a record company specializing in music from the most exotic places in the world. In 2017, he signed with Mad Decent, Diplo’s label. This might a weird combo considering Omar Souleyman is not a DJ and is not into EDM.
Instead, he sings in Arabic on top of divine electronic harmonics. He doesn’t speak a single word of English, but this hasn’t stopped him from performing live all over Europe and the United States. Basically, he has taught the entire Western world what the deal is with Arabic party music. And how to dance with your shoulders.
Yes, he promoted a dance named ‘dabke’, which matches perfectly with his music. Look it up on the web and you’ll see what I’m talking about. You still have a couple of months to learn to master it, before making shoulder moves in the fields of Bonțida. Here are a couple of other interesting facts about Omar Souleyman:
He was a farmer before he became a singer
Omar Souleyman is not your typical singer born with the mic in his hand. He took up singing rather late, at around the age of 30. Before changing careers, he was a humble farmer. Then he started singing at weddings. He was some sort of a fiddler. Unfortunately, everything changed when the civil war broke out and he had to flee the country.
He’s very prolific, he released hundreds of albums
Even though he began his singing career at the age of 30, Omar Souleyman made up for the time spent on the fields, away from the stage. Over 600 albums with his live shows have been released. Many of his wedding gigs have been audio-taped and sold in markets. The only issue is that many albums have been lost. Again, because of the Syrian civil war. Anyway, Omar Souleyman is one of the most prolific singers in Syrian history. His manager declared for Crack Magazine that Omar doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘break’.
He collaborated with Björk and Four Tet
In 2011, when his music started to emerge at hipster parties in Europe, Omar Souleyman remixed Björk’s song Crystalline. It sounds very differently from the original version on Biophilia. Who would have thought that a former Syrian farmer would end up collaborating with the most celebrated Icelandic artist? Omar has also collaborated with Four Tet, who produced several of his tracks on Wenu Wenu and Bahdeni Nami.
He performed at the 2013 Nobel Prize Ceremony
Omar Souleyman comes from a war-stricken region. Nonetheless, his music is super happy. All his songs sound like a party. Including the song he performed in the concert organized during the 2013 Peace Nobel Prize awarding ceremony. His music is entirely positive. You don’t understand the language, but you feel the vibe. This is how it’s going to be at Electric Castle 8, where he will rock the stage with some party music we will definitely need.
