RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a new film that features Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn, and their personal experience of media misrepresentation
Omar Souleyman – Syrian wedding singer turned global dance icon
Omar Souleyman
[Stuart Sevastos/CC]
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
KEN COCKBURN guides us through a survey of Chekov’s early short fiction, and the groundwork it laid for his later masterpieces
ANDY HEDGECOCK revels in a hugely enjoyable but deadly serious examination of the 1930s, that is an indictment of our own era
The bard distills our hellish times into fiery words
Omar Souleyman
Jazz Cafe
A SINGLE A-board sits outside the Jazz Cafe emblazoned with the words Global Dance Icon – Omar Souleyman. More of a nod to the dry humour of this most beloved of Syrian singers than a sign of an ego-tripping diva, though Souleyman truly has become something of a cult sensation.
Hailing from humble origins in the village of Ra’s al-’Ayn near the Syria–Turkey border, he began as a part-time singer at weddings where the dabke is performed, a traditional folk music performed during line-dances and popular on celebratory occasions.
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