Omar Souleyman

Omar Souleyman: Dabke 2020 (Sublime Frequencies, 2009)

MySpace: Omar Souleyman

"Omar Souleyman is a Syrian musical legend. Since 1994, he and his musicians have emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout Syria, but until now they have remained little known outside of the country. To date, they have issued more than five-hundred studio and live- recorded cassette albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city."

While this isn't turning into a music blog, I was reminded of Souleyman's work in a review of the above album (Observer, Sublime, not ridiculous) so couldn't resist the link here. The MySpace page features older work. There are some other important collections/complications on the Sublime Frequencies label, some of which is available to download.