Kitty Empire 

Omar Souleyman: Wenu Wenu – review

Omar Suleyman's collaboration with Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden shows the Syrian singer at his frenzied best, writes Kitty Empire
  
  


Hundreds of cassettes immortalising Omar Souleyman gigs regularly change hands in the Middle East. Thanks to a burgeoning profile in the west, there are a number of compilations featuring Souleyman's up'n'at'em singing and right-hand man Rizan Sa'id's hypnotic, almost lurid compositions. Wenu Wenu, though, finds the Syrian wedding singer in a studio with Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden, making plain the simpatico between this pumping, populist synth music and western rave culture. Happily for purists, Hebden doesn't tamper with the duo's mojo, allowing tracks such as the Kurdish Warni Warni to play themselves out in an organic frenzy.

 

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