LP - Omar Souleyman - Bahdeni Nami - Import 2xLP
"Gatefold double LP version. Includes download code. Perhaps Syria's
most successful musical export, international singer Omar Souleyman
returns with his second proper studio effort and most personal album to
date, Bahdeni Nami. For the album Souleyman opened his doors to
collaborations with a number of renowned electronic producers, all of
whom were established fans eager to offer unique interpretations of his
sound. Four Tet returns to produce a track, Gilles Peterson lends his
considerable talents to one song, Modeselektor turn in the two fastest
dance numbers of the set, and Legowelt offers a remix of the
title-track. Additionally, a 7" planned for release in August 2015 will
feature a thoroughly distinctive remix of one of the album's
heartrending ballads by The Black Lips' Cole Alexander. Bahdeni Nami was
recorded closer to home, in Istanbul, and appropriately the singer is
joined by traditional accompaniment. Souleyman has reunited with his
favorite poet, Ahmad Alsamer (who penned his pre-west hits "Kaset
Hanzel," "Khattaba," and "Shift -al Mani"), heard throughout the album
offering claps and wails of encouragement. The songs come alive with
musical contributions and support from the virtuosic sax work of Khaled
Youssef, another longtime collaborator from his hometown. Rizan Sa'id's
keyboards improvise devotedly to every tune and turn of Souleyman's
choice. The lyrics are familiar territory for the singer -- declarations
of eternal love, consolation of one's aching heart, pleas to his lover
to sleep in his arms forever -- realized as four fast dance numbers, an
introduction mawal, and an elaborate araby style ballad. Omar Souleyman
continues to tirelessly bring his wild dance party to all corners of the
globe, everywhere from SXSW to the Nobel Peace Prize Concert to rock
clubs in cities around the world. Originating from the Hasake region of
Syria, Souleyman earned his reputation by singing and leading years of
weddings, birthdays, christenings, corporate parties, and more,
answering invitations from all peoples living in the region -- be they
Muslims, Christians, Kurds, Iraqis, Syrians, Assyrians. Those parties
yielded hundreds of cassette tapes at first offered as gifts and later
distributed throughout the region and other Arab countries. Despite the
world's insistence in associating him with his home country's unending
war, Omar Souleyman gives back nothing but love." - Monkeytown
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