Omar Souleyman

Luke Turner reviews Omar Souleyman's concert at London's Scala.

If you'd asked me two years ago whether I'd be spending a Monday night watching a man who in robe, kaffiyeh, dark glasses and tightly clipped moustache send the Scala beserk with music that sounds like being simultaneously crushed with a piledriver and attached by swarms of killer bees, I wouldn't have believed you. Yet Omar Souleyman's frantic combination of hyperspeed electric oud, overdriven keyboard and intimidating yet deadpan stage presence has clearly struck a chord.

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