One of the most unusual success stories in electronic music of recent times has to be that of Syrian farmer and wedding singer Omar Souleyman, who hails from northeast Syria. Before he left Syria in 2011 due to the civil war, he had been a prolific wedding singer, with hundreds of live cassettes and CDs to his name.
Relocating to Turkey, Souleyman was unable to continue his career as a wedding singer but continued to write love songs and began performing them live. In 2007, a US label released a compilation of his early recordings, and this along with his funky upbeat music plus a reputation for dynamic shows helped develop something of a cult following.
His music is based on the rhythms of an old folk dance called the dabke. Set to a rhythm of insistent handclaps, the music weaves around the sonic shards of keyboards and saz (a long-necked lute, often called the baglama in Turkey) and the gravelly vocals of Souleyman. The infectious handclap rhythms can be found in lots of folk music throughout the region. Listening to his latest album, Bahdeni Nami (Monkey Town Records, Germany, 2015), I can hear the same patterns as on one of my favourite CDs from the region, Friends Of Bambouty, by the Port Said cafe singers. And, of course, you can hear the same rhythms in the music of "desert" musicians like Tinariwen.
The latest album comes after the critical success of his debut international release, Wenu Wenu (Ribbon Music), in 2013, and he performed at the Glastonbury Festival in 2011. He also found time to record for Bjork's Biophilia project.
The new album has just a couple original wedding-style songs, the opening track Mawal Menzal and Darb El Hawa. The former is a haunting song about love and possession, while the latter means The Road Of Love and is, as you might have guessed, treacherous. I liked these two tracks immensely, and they contrast neatly with the other songs, which have been produced by various famed crews like DJ Giles Peterson (Tawwait El Gheba), Modeselektor (Leil El Bareh, Enssa El Bareh) and Legowelt (Bahdeni Nami).
The electro versions of Souleyman's music generally work very well. The eight-minute title track is, for instance, a terrific dance number. From the initial electronic squeaks, the track builds into a swirling, whirling track that just takes off and never comes down. It has a trancelike pulse that lets the handclaps ride over the top of the drum and bass that have been added -- a nice touch. I sometimes get fed up with the basic drum-and-bass beat that drives much electronic music, but here the producers have given many of the tracks variety, so that the main beat drops in and out as Souleyman sings or the sax or keyboards veer off on to a solo.
I will certainly play the title track at my next DJ night and see how the Bangkok crowd takes to it. I'm sure they'll like it. An excellent album, highly recommended. More information at www.monkeytownrecords.com.
Keyboard wizard Bernie Worrell, a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic musical collective and a de facto member of the art-rock band Talking Heads (which he never officially joined), recently passed away. World Beat would like to pay tribute to this brilliant keyboard player and composer. Worrell was the second man to receive a Moog synthesizer from Bob Moog, which he used to help bandleader George Clinton create his futuristic sound (along with players such as guitarist Garry Shider, bassist Bootsy Collins and the Horny Horns trumpet section) of Parliament and later Funkadelic. You can hear Worrell in full Moog glory on Parliament's 1977 song Flashlight. And he gets my vote as one of the best keyboard players around for his wonderful riffs on Mtume's saucy single Juicy Fruit.
Worrell also helped create the mature Talking Heads' sound, and he can be seen on the Heads' great concert film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme. An in-demand session musician, he worked on many projects from the 1980s onwards with producer Bill Laswell. Time to play Flashlight again in tribute to this great musician.
This columnist can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
