Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts

Omar Souleyman is a folk-pop singer from rural northeastern Syria. Like many Syrian musicians, he made his name as a singer for wedding parties in the region, with hundreds of cassettes and CDs documenting his performances distributed throughout the country. These, along with several studio albums, earned him legendary status in the Syrian dabke scene throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. After his 2005 breakthrough folk-hit "Khataba," Omar gained wider recognition throughout the Arab world. After collecting his tapes for a decade, Sublime Frequencies released the first compilation of Omar Souleyman tracks to be distributed in the West.