Omar Souleyman - Wenu Wenu

Omar Souleyman has released around 500 albums. Yes, really. Souleyman does a roaring trade as a wedding singer on his Syrian hometown Ra’s al-‘Ayn’s local wedding scene. Once the sound system has been packed up, the newly-wed couple get a tape of the party, and his recordings are circulated on the streets as bootlegs. He uses Levant folk forms – the ferocious electronic Dabke that blasts from kiosks and taxis, and Sha’abi street music, too. Then he cranks the already uproarious BPMs to even rowdier levels, and flips traditionalism on its head. Back in Syria, he’s a musical legend.

A chain of events including a nod of recommendation from Björk, a recording session with Damon Albarn prior to Gorillaz’ ‘Plastic Beach’, and a notorious string of late-night festival slots have led to this – ‘Wenu Wenu’. Produced by Four Tet and released officially on Ribbon, it’s a far cry from the old bootleg distribution method. Now Souleyman frequents festival stages as much as he frequents weddings. There’s something about Omar Souleyman that spreads like wildfire – whether it’s the sheer novelty of how different his music sounds against everything else, or the energy and sense of fun that he seems to capture.

Racing through breakneck melodies, Souleyman takes the Mijwiz - a sort of clarinet-type instrument from Lebanon - and gives it an added electronic welly, colouring it with synthesisers and an extra jaggedy attack. In fact, Souleyman’s main forte seems to be in amping things up. This is one of the craziest, most frentic, restless albums to surface this year, and it’s also the one that stands out as most unique.

It would be at best patronising to describe ‘Wenu Wenu’ as a world music album, because in reality it’s more than that, and it’s a crossover record rich with cultural touchstones. Four Tet is a highly engaged musical tourist, journey to Omar Souleyman’s music, and most people who listen to this will be swept along in its slipstream of joyful abandon, too.