Omar Souleyman has come a long way since he began his musical career as a wedding singer in his hometown of Tell Tamer, Syria. His musical talent has transcended from the strong native audience he enjoyed at home to a now global fan-base in love with his blend of Arabic, Turkish and electronic music, a fan-base that was blown away by Wenu Wenu in 2013 and waited eagerly in anticipation for his recently-released second studio-album Bahdeni Nami.
The traditional ‘dabke’ sound of his new album has been met by the production of several world-class producers, including previous collaborator Four Tet, Gilles Peterson, Modeselektor and Legowelt. However, the dabke-electro sound that propelled Souleyman onto stages world-wide has not been lost but instead reigns through the LP via virtuoso keyboard work from Souleyman’s long-time collaborator Rizan Sa’id, and his own voice of course.
In line with his new album, Omar has chosen seven of his favourite tracks from three legendary female Arabic female singers, whom whilst don’t feature directly in Omar’s music, are a great and constant source of inspiration to him.
Omar Souleyman’s Bahdeni Nami is out now via Monkeytown Records
Fairouz – Bektub Esmak Ya Habibi
Fairouz – Habaytak Bissayf
Fairouz – Sakan Al Leil
Fairouz – Kefak Enta
Oum Kalthoum – Salou Qalb
Oum Kalthoum – Al Atlal
Dalida – Salma Ya Salama
