Interview: Omar Souleyman

It was Sublime Frequencies the label which deals with artists such as Tuareg guitar revolutionaries Group Inerane, Turkish mega-star Erkin Koray or the mind-bending Laotian musician Mor lam, who gave us the chance to listen live to Syrian musician Omar Souleyman. We have featured Souleyman quite heavily here on EB, even before his unbelievable Björk remixes surfaced. When we got the chance to chat with Souleyman during his Berlin visit we confirmed an interview right away and sat down together just before his Berlin concert.

Electronic Beats: I am very happy to see you here in Berlin.
Omar Souleyman: Thanks, I am also very happy to be here in Berlin.

You finished your third European tour last year. How was it different to your previous concerts here in Europe?
The shows at this tour were really good, the audience liked it a lot and there were definitely more people coming to my shows. They like my music more and they dance more.

Do you have any idea why's that?
I think my music is dance music, fast melodies that make you wanna dance and this is what happened, because the people like to dance here.

Are you surprised of that growing reception?
In the beginning it was strange. You know I came here to Europe and found out that the people not only can handle my debké sound, but they like it very much and were dancing to it. But you know we've grown gradually, we were playing a lot of festivals, had some press. And now people are asking for us to come. That's great.

What about your sound? It's not really a sound you would file under Syrian pop music.
It's a mix. But a mix which is pretty often heard in the eastern region of Syria. Added with Turkish, Lebanese and Iraq influences. Not European. We call it fast dabke.

I've heard of it, but...
Dabke is an expression of love for us in eastern Syria, also of happiness and sympathy with others. Music and dancing are the traditions from generations ago. In eastern Syria we are fast and the whole world likes fast dancing. But it differs in every area from Aleppo to Homs to Deir ez-Zour and every area has its own style and tempo.

How did you get in touch with Björk?
That just happened, she asked me to do a remix, so we did the remix. Easy.

Please allow me some personal questions, when did you realize, that you can make your living from being a musician?
In 1994, that was when I first started singing on a more professional level. Then I got my fame as a wedding singer in two years.

In 1996 you stopped doing other things and turned into a professional musician?
Yes, around 1996. I got booked to Beirut, to Jordan, the Emirates, Dubai and then Europe.

And what happend in the first decades of your life?
I had a pretty normal life, I was working all day on various construction sides as a mason. And then I felt very tired in the evening!

How did you manage to keep your dream alive of being a professional musician?
It was my dream to be a musician and I already started to sing with seven years - just for me and my family. In the early nineties I started singing on small wedding parties and from there on it was growing kind of fast. Bigger weddings in Syria, then foreign countries with even bigger wedding ceremonies, as I told you before. But I think in the end it's down to your self-confidence if you can do it or not. Self-confidence is the most important thing. There are some artists who are scared of a big audience. For me it's the opposite: I am scared of small audiences.

In how far is the success of Omar Souleyman the result of a team-play? If I got it right you are the interpreter, but then there's Rizan Sa'id the composer and from time to time there are other members on stage when you are playing live?
They are all artists, that's their work. Sure with Rizan I am working together since the very beginning. We are from the same village, so he composes and I am singing the lyrics. We are more than a team, we a friends, family and colleagues.

Whats the Syrian music landscape like, are their labels? Is there any distribution organized - or is more or less a black market?
More a black market, because there are no labels, no distribution, no copyrights, no common sense.

No copyright, wow. That's quite something…
...yes, something bad. For us as musicians it's quite depressing.

Have you heard of western musicians who are now trying to release their music without copyright...
I heard about it, but you know in Syria we are on another level. We need the copyright for giving money to musicians who can't make their living from making music.

Omar Souleyman - Leh Jani 2x12" (at 33RPM) is out since end of last year via Sham Palace.