Sublime Frequencies 
Omar Souleyman :
Highway to Hassake (SY,1996-2006,comp.2007)*°°
Too much heat I find difficult to live in. Being used to the mild and softening dewy inspirations, it is difficult for me to face the hot burning sun of many desert areas, where not much protects you from immediate heat. The music from many Arab desert countries are like presentations of that heat, with speeded up energy particles to a un-neglectable immediate use or burning up nature, often with harsh rhythms, singing with its thorn like protective sounds of local Arabic tongues.
Also with this pop star, many of the fast baked-to-tradition tunes immediately puts in mind the seemingly improvised melodies of that particular Middle Eastern wind instrument with that awful shrill and nervous sound that paralyzes snakes or perhaps just confuses them immensely.
Once used to this different temperature, hearing these guys playing, I can also sense the humour in it, the joy, and the hypnotic dance, working like channellings of celebrative enjoyment, making vivid pulses from that direct energy. This is especially attractive for us, hearing it played by an occasional electric guitar. The rhythms played often partly by cheap synthesisers are never too hard but are used almost as specific mini studio for percussive sound producers, making surprising combinations, not sure if always equally intended. The melodic speed often is really fast, but this has also something attractive and hard to sit still with. Not all the tracks are arranged similarly. “Atatat” for instance, is a slower tempo, bluesy repetition driven song, lead by oud, and a bit of electric guitar and rhythms. “Arabic Dabke” is led by flute and a train like percussive rhythm, which in an original way might be partly electronically produced ?? ; it seems to be a nationalist song !? Some songs are love songs, most of it is somehow dance related (weddings,..), or sometimes the songs are like a nationalist celebration. The quality taken from tapes is very different, can sound loud and worn out by perhaps sometimes not too professional recording techniques, with an effect which at times, reminds me of one occasion I had in a school where the local North African Arab parents took care for the music ; I think they were all deafened by taking care of loud and repetitive music on an occasion too often.
While much of the (mostly early) tracks on the compilation are interesting, in a way like feast-provoking attractive, I am still left with this feeling it is not exactly the kind of compilation I expected to be made for a western public. The music was meant for local enjoyment mostly. It is partly because of some strange occasional combinations it begins to become something much more than this.
