Given the involvement of Diplo’s Mad Decent label, it’s tempting to listen for an increased focus on electronic sounds on Omar Souleyman’s To Syria, with Love: Is that a hint of a house beat bubbling beneath the whoops and synth riffs of “Khayen”? In fact, Syria’s most famous wedding singer is still doing what he does best: driving, upbeat jams (“Ya Boul Habari”), midtempo cuts (“Chobi”), and mournful ballads (“Mawal”), all suffused with hypnotic Middle Eastern scales and the singer’s gruff, bittersweet, incomparably expressive voice.
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