Omar Souleyman

Saw this guy at Heartland Festival, Denmark 2018. He was the last act of the festival, and the organisers / schedulers must have known all about him as I have never experienced such an incredibly joyful and intense climax and finale to a festival.

I suspect that it was a total surprise to most of the people there just as it was to us. The unavoidably infectious uptempo music was accessible to all and people of all ages and types were grooving and dancing, a huge wild mosh pit kicked off in front of the stage and the whole crowd was swept up in the moment. Huge smiles everywhere.

Omar was cool as a cucumber throughout, somehow mysteriously whipping the crowd into a frenzy whilst barely seeming to move apart from to glide back and forth leisurely across the stage, or occasionally tucking his mic under his arm to slow clap along to the rhythms, or suggest the crowd elevate its state of excitement by simply lifting his upturned palms a few times, which always worked.

He's a total ledge.

Now this review isn't going to be easy but let me digest in this heavy dost of Omar Souleyman.

Omar, born in 1966, sings in Kurdish and Arabic. But there are strong influences are Bhangra rock. George Harrison would be proud to have seen Omar live at Glasto in 2011. It shows how far Omar has come in his time in the musical lights.

He usually starts with a deep and intense lyrically powerful song which confuses the crowd, maybe scaring them into thinking; "What are we doing watching this?!" But then he begins to bring out the funky loving beats of bongo drums and the expanding vocal range.

This has been hard to review but if you need help deciding to see him live watch him at Glasto 2011. He was probably one of the first to play on a Sunday morning or something, when everyone is hangover, tired and gearing themselves for the big finale of tonight's headline act. But he still draws in a big crowd, which is hard to do when you are performing at the start of a day at a 5 day festival.

Yes, I went to the venue and found no one there. Nobody, no administration, no fans, no show. My money and night were taken. Please direct me to someone so that I can understand what exactly happened.