RA Sessions: Omar Souleyman - Bahdeni Nami | Resident Advisor

Visit the RA feature page: Everyone’s favourite Syrian wedding singer shows us how it’s done. In almost every aspect of his career, Omar Souleyman is one of a kind. Once a part-time wedding singer in Syria, he is now a popular presence at musical festivals around the world. His thumping blend of traditional dabke songs, electronic beats and his laments on unrequited love has had crowds at Glastonbury, Way Out West and Roskilde going wild—even though they have no clue what he’s saying. Souleyman’s last album, Wenu Wenu, was produced by Four Tet, who also appears on his new one, Bahdeni Nami, alongside Gilles Peterson and Modeselektor, who are releasing the LP through their label, Monkeytown Records. Souleyman has around 700 albums to his name, which are mainly live recordings of his wedding performances (he would present the bride and groom with a CD, which would then be copied and distributed). Modeselektor recently described Souleyman as “the coolest man on