Omar El Shariyi

Oriental Music

Genre: ELECTRONIC

LP (Black Vinyl)

Boomkat Product Review:

First reissue of a spellbinding 1976 Arabic organ suite, full of microtonal vamps and trills by one of the best to do it in Egypt; Omar El Shariyi - a must check if you were taken by DJ Plead’s Documenting Sound tape, Omar Khorshid, Islam Chipsy & EEK

We’re always a sucker for a strong set of organ music - from the sacrosanct to knees up daftness - and ‘Oriental Music’ is pushing all the right buttons with El Shariyi’s flighty, winking leads accompanied by percolated rhythms and strings in the suavest grooves. Its six instrumentals transport us to Cairo in the mid-‘70s, back when the artist was responsible for shaking up modern Egyptian music, trimming the ‘70s trend for long songs into shorter forms inspired by Western pop musics, but still completely Egyptian, Arabic in tone and feel.

El Shariyi was blind from a young age, but discovered a prodigious talent for music, taking him to the Hadley School for the Blind in America, where he quickly learned piano, oud and composition. He would end up playing bars back in Cairo, against the wishes of his upper middle class family, but this lead to local, and national renown, becoming a prolific writer for established Egyptian artists, film and TV soundtracks. Notably his talent lead Yamaha Corp. to come knocking for help in creating new electronic keyboards that handle quarter tone.

Long out of print on vinyl, this album is a real gem, brimming over with mesmerising melodies and deftly accompanied by percussion and strings in a way that has lost none of its gently intoxicating feel and classy lustre over the past 40 odd years.

LP (Black Vinyl) (6)