Syrian Dabke Goes Global, Again

In 1997, Iraqi-American producer Mark Gergis first heard the music of Syria-born Omar Souleyman. The fast-paced dabke sound was emanating from a cassette kiosk in Damascus and Gergis, a self-described “archivist of international audio/visual culture,” took note.

A decade later, Souleyman – with Gergis at his side – would release his first stateside compilation album, Highway to Hassake, through Seattle-based Sublime Frequencies. To Western listeners, this was an introduction to “New Wave Dabke,” a term coined by Lebanese artist and musician Raed Yassin that described the growing use of electronic instruments in dabke music.

On June 19, Souleyman is poised to share the realm of “New Wave Dabke” in the West with Gergis’s latest release: Sounds of the Syrian Houran.

The compilation album from the year-old Sham Palace label features six tracks from Syria’s southwest Houran region, home to the towns of Deraa and Suwaida. The songs come from Gergis’s wunderkammer of music, a collection consisting of music selected from cassettes and CDs gathered during years of travel in the region.