Review: Omar Souleyman - Oran Mor, Glasgow

ONE of the few gigs in Glasgow to go ahead despite the storm battering the city, it was a depleted crowd that ventured out for Omar Souleyman.

A mean-looking dude with trademark thick black moustache, red and white checked headscarf and round-framed sunglasses, he appeared unruffled, his steely game-face betraying little of the emotion in his songs, chanted and crooned in Arabic.

The Syrian purveyor of “street-level dabke” – a crude fusion of Syrian folk-pop and western dance music – has made around 500 albums in his native country, most of them live recordings from the countless weddings he’s performed at. If you’ve seen some wild wedding discos, imagine them set to a soundtrack of pulsing 1990s trance beats and racing eastern synth and guitar melodies, and you’ll have a rough idea of how Souleyman’s gigs go down.

With just hard-working keyboardist Rizan Sa’id for accompaniment, this was a Spartan version of the Souleyman experience but sufficient to explain why he’s been adopted by western alternative crowds (he’ll play the hip All Tomorrow’s Parties festival for a second time this weekend, and has collaborated with Björk).

Get beyond their inherent naffness, and Souleyman’s tunes are raw, joyous, danceable things to be enjoyed purely at face value. There was something unintentionally hilarious about the way he looked so unfazed by the scenes of abandon they inspired, his stagecraft amounting to twirling a beaded necklace on one finger, or clapping along gingerly, or growling the odd rising “ooohhhh”. When he started blatantly sneaking looks at his watch towards the end, it was so rude it actually felt quite refreshing.

RATING: ****