The Singles Jukebox

Straight outta Ra’s al-‘Ayn…

[Video][Myspace]
[7.71]

Anthony Easton: What is the difference between the five hundred recordings that he made for weddings, which were bootlegged and sold at market, and the work that he did for Albarn, Björk, or Caribou? What are the measures of authenticity that require us to know about the wedding work in his bio? Is this like Congotronics in their modernizing tradition, is this modernizing of tradition a new way of selling? Does any of this matter when this haunts me, and when I cannot understand it well? 
[8]

David Turner: The press I’ve seen about Souleyman the last few weeks, keeps repeating how western listeners are pulled in how closely this sounds to Techno, House and other forms of Electronic music. I don’t hear that, at all. Not at all. I don’t have a good, read any, reference point for Souleyman’s music, which I happen to have taken a huge liking too, but electronic music of any shade is not exactly what I had in mind. It mostly reminds me of rock music, where the guitar patterns are so locked into place that I can just get lost in them as they lap over each other and repeat. “Warni Warni” does the same, as I get lost in its droning chant and stomp. 
[9]

Alfred Soto: Giving the Middle Eastern melody an electronic glaze doesn’t mitigate how irritating this transposition sounds.  
[4]

Patrick St. Michel: I don’t know much about Omar Souleyman or dabke beyond what has been written by various American and English media outlets in profiles of the Syrian singer, but I do know that I like how hypnotic Souleyman’s vocals and that synth sound when they swirl together.
[7]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: “Warni Warni” wants to make you feel comfortable, ease you into its world — a digitised gargle of “let’s go!” and breakbeat percussion have you settled in for something resembling four-to-the-floor club madness. But that’s not the type of madness Souleyman wants to describe. His vocals carry the insistence of commands: “come to me,” he sings longingly (and repeatedly, like a mantra). The music circles in on itself but with a single-mindedness, an intense focus — synths wilt under the focus of Levantine percussion, baselines twist down moodier roads than the surrounding melody. “Warni Warni” becomes an ode to romantic obsession, its restlessness a seeming way to pass the time between wanting. Move your feet so your heart won’t ache.
[8]

Brad Shoup: That wheedly line is phenomenal, a testament to the repetition and modulation we don’t see ’round these parts. I could see myself docking another track for building instrumental walls that dwarf the singer, but it’s hard not to give into the frenzy of the quasi-club gallop coupled with that buzzing melody. Souleyman’s understanding of when to step away is impeccable.
[8]

Jonathan Bogart: I assume that something well under half of the music-nerd interest in Omar Souleyman comes from a place of open-minded genuine interest in all music regardless of the source, while the rest of it is a giggly “lookit the funny brown man making music that sounds a little like dancepunk because he uses electronics but not in the way that we’re used to hearing.” Not unlike what the music-nerd wolf pack did to Wesley Willis, in fact. The difference is, Souleyman has an actual career, because he’s a genuine entertainer and his music has a social and a commercial context. So recording on high-fidelity equipment with professional-grade (by industry standards) instruments was just the obvious next step. I’m sure a lot of those same music nerds think this is a travesty, that all the lo-fi, maxed-out grit has been scrubbed from Souleyman’s work and now he just sounds like any other Middle Eastern wedding singer. But the cheap electronics and overloaded speakers weren’t why he had a career in the first place long before Western music nerds had heard of him. The man can sing, and he’s got charisma for days. Celebrate good times, come on.
[10]