DENGUE FEVER's new album Cannibal Courtship is now available on Fantasy Records / Concord Music.



DENGUE FEVER's psychedelic take on the Cambodian pop sounds of the 60s makes them one of rock'n'roll's most unique stories. Their Asian Psychedelic sound draws enthusiastic crowds from LA to the UK , from Maui to Moscow, and leaves critics rummaging through their thesauruses looking for new superlati...ves to describe their music. Amazon.com named their album, Escape From Dragon House, the #1 international release for 2005, cementing their position as a global phenomenon. In England, Mojo named Escape to their Top 10 World Music releases of 2006. In Rolling Stone's best of the decade issue, Kirk Hammett of Metallica named Dengue Fever’s “One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula” as the second best song of the decade.



Brothers Ethan (keyboards) and Zac (guitar) Holtzman started Dengue Fever in 2001 when they discovered they shared a love for the Cambodian pop music of the 60s. After adding sax man David Ralicke (Beck/Brazzaville), drummer Paul Smith and bassist Senon Williams, they went looking for a Cambodian singer. Enter Chhom Nimol, who performed regularly for the King and Queen of Cambodia . Her powerful singing, marked by a luminous vibrato that adds exotic ornamentations to her vocal lines, and hypnotic stage moves based on traditional dances, complimented the band's driving Cambodian/American sound.

Omar Souleyman is a Syrian musical legend. Since 1994, he has emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout Syria, but until now they have remained little known outside of the country. To date, he has issued more than five-hundred studio and live-recorded cassette albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city.


From rural Northeastern Syria, Omar began his musical career in 1994 with a small group of local collaborators that remain with him today. The myriad musical traditions of the region are evident in their music. Here, classical Arabic mawal-style vocalization gives way to high-octane Syrian Dabke (the regional folkloric dance and party music), Iraqi Choubi and a host of Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish styles, among others.


Together, they commonly perform the Ataba, a traditional form of folk poetry used in Dabke. Souleyman’s first hit in Syria was "Jani" (1996) which gained cassette-kiosk infamy and brought him recognition throughout the country. Over the years, his popularity has risen steadily and the group tirelessly performs concerts throughout Syria and has accepted invitations to perform abroad in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Lebanon.