It’s been a turbulent few years for dabke-techno king Omar Souleyman. In 2021 the Syrian singer was arrested in Urfa, the town in southeastern Turkey the place he had been dwelling and working a bakery since escaping Syria’s civil struggle in 2011. Accused of being a member of the Syrian Kurdish Individuals’s Safety Models (YPG) militia, which authorities in Ankara think about a terrorist group and an extension of the Kurdistan Staff’ Occasion (PKK), Souleyman was held for somewhat over 24 hours earlier than being launched with out expenses.
Except for referring to themes of exile on latest albums, Souleyman’s music has by no means been overtly political (a alternative that has generally drawn criticism from fellow Syrians). However rising up as a Sunni Arab in Syria’s culturally various al-Hasakah area, he absorbed Kurdish, Assyrian, and even Turkish and Iraqi influences, typically singing in Kurdish and collaborating with Kurdish artists, comparable to his former longtime keyboard participant Rizan Sa’id. Since leaving Turkey after his arrest, Souleyman has discovered a brand new dwelling in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish Area, and it’s to this historical metropolis—which, in distinction to the repressive regime in Turkey, provided him solace amid its various cultural milieu—that he dedicates his fifth studio album.
Erbil, his third full-length for Diplo’s Mad Respectable (and certainly one of over 500 albums general, in the event you imagine the lore), celebrates the brand new experiences and friendships that Souleyman encountered there. For non-Arabic audio system that’s onerous to know, as a result of the label provides no lyrics or translations—a notable omission, contemplating Souleyman’s worldwide viewers. However in a manner this follows the identical patterns which have characterised his trajectory since he was first plucked from relative obscurity in Syria and introduced to the remainder of the world. For a lot of, Souleyman stands out as the solely dabke artist they ever come throughout. Decontextualized and inscrutable behind his darkish sun shades, he initiatives an aura of unknowability and distance.
Since Souleyman’s worldwide breakthrough in 2007 with Chic Frequencies’ compilation Freeway to Hassake, he’s amassed a whole lot of tens of millions of YouTube views and change into the face of dabke within the Western world, collaborating with a diverse bunch of artists, from Björk to Gorillaz and 4 Tet. On Erbil, he sticks to the time-tested system that has propelled him up to now: his emotion-filled baritone gliding over a cascade of whirling saz traces, (principally) digital simulations of devices comparable to oud, mijwiz, and arghul, and rock-solid, trance-inducing beats.
