Omar Souleyman is the dabke-techno king: fast, synth-heavy songs many of us know from family weddings. His fifth studio album pays homage to Erbil, the city in Iraq that embraced him in recent years. He headlined the jazzhane Festival 2025.
With jazzhane
- 26.07.2025 jazzhane Festival 2025, Rote Fabrik Zurich
About
Most of us are very familiar with Omar Souleyman’s music; in fact, we have danced to similar fast-paced and synth-heavy songs at our family members’ weddings in the past. Yet, to pigeonhole Omar as a wedding singer is reductive. His ear for contrasting sounds, and his ability to bring joy, allow us to escape into his work. After more than 10 years, the dabke-techno king is back in Zurich and more passionate than ever.
Omar Souleyman’s 5th studio album pays homage to Erbil — the city in Iraq that offered solace and embraced Souleyman during recent times. The move to Erbil came with new experiences and friendships best celebrated in joyous songs dedicated to a new life-chapter. Erbil ’s 8 tracks see the Syrian wedding singer turned global electronic music icon again, teaming up with his longtime keyboard player Hasan Jamo for an ambitious and forward-thinking techno-meets-Dabke sound. The past several years have seen Omar Souleyman receive the GQ Middle East ‘Men of the Year’ award in 2022, noted massive live performances around the globe. Omar, who has collaborated with Björk and Four Tet, began his career as a prolific wedding singer, releasing nearly 500 live albums before civil war broke out in his native Syria in 2011. He then moved to Turkey and in 2013 released his Four Tet-produced debut studio album Wenu Wenu via Ribbon/Domino, which NPR called "...a jam so visceral, thrilling and intense as to make the mysterious matter of earthly borders seem hardly worth the time to contemplate."