Thread: Matching Costume w/ a not -so-traditional Song

So I have been working on choreography on this 1 particular song that I really love (and plan to possibly perform one day). Unfortunately, it's not the most traditional bellydance song. So I am trying to fuse my dance styles accordingly. The song is "Nos Couleurs" by Cheb Mami. The lyrics are (I think) mostly French & Arabic (with a little bit of a rapping part in the middle), but the artist is a Rai singer (a mix of Spanish, French, African & Arabic). So my question is what the hell do I wear for this?!?!? I am spending a lot of time attempting to match my styles to the song itself, so my next thought at this point is what do I wear for a costume?
It's such a cool, funky song and I really do love it, but man it's got me second guessing it and maybe moving on to something more traditional!

Anyway, here is the song...let me know what you guys think.

I hear African flavored disco. I see a (depending on venue) a glittery sarong style wrap skirt and bell sleeved choli with a triangle net hip scarf with those leaf shaped paillets (sp?). Funky, shiny and casual.

The other thing I would ask is what do you have available? Nikki has a costume for sale which she calls Abba meets Arabic which could be fun. Or you could wear an Eman esque galabaya. Or even Melos with a fun and funky shirt! For some odd reason I am seeing this more than anything else. Make it a romantic shirt and a coined belt of some kind, and it would be fun!

{{{HUGS}}}

Hi!

I like the song - but I have to say: It's a political song (as many of the Rai-Songs). But it's french text's feeling is very positive. So, you should think about that, too, before you start dancing to it.

Here is the translation of the french parts. I don't know about the arabic ones, though...

Arabisch

Best regards from Germany, Sahira.

It's always a good idea to make sure what the lyrics mean before you get to attached to a particular song.

I'm with Anala. It sounds like Afro-Euro club music to me. All issues of lyrics and Cheb Mami boycotts aside, to be candid, if I saw a dancer performing to this, I would wonder why she chose it. It's not particularly Middle Eastern sounding, and from a choreography standpoint, it's not a very interesting piece of music, because it's one driving beat the whole way through. Changing vocalists doesn't really change the flavor of the piece. There's no grand, soaring mawaal, no bridge where the tempo or mood changes, no interesting stops or accents to grab the audience's attention, no build to a dramatic climax, nothing where a dancer can really dig in. After the first ten seconds or so, it just sits there going, "Thump, thump, thump, thump...," which means that it's very hard to do something with it that doesn't look like eight counts of this followed by eight counts of that. It would be a good song to use in class or practice for drilling, or perhaps for an audience-participation section of a larger performance for a group that would appreciate the ethnic blend and sentiments behind it, but in my experience, it's the kind of song that the average audience would get tired of clapping along to after the first minute, unless the performer has the kind of charisma that could make dancing to a metronome exciting to watch.

However, in the immortal words of Woody Allen, "The heart wants what it wants." If you still feel there is a good performance in here, I wouldn't recommend wearing the traditional Samia Gamal princess-style costume. It feels more like a song that calls for pants than a dress or skirt to me. It's not belly-dance music, so there's no need for a specific type of belly-dance costume. You could pretty much wear whatever combination of club- or dancewear to suit your body type.

Heh -- raï. Love raï (smh at Cheb Mami on a personal level, but oh well), but this is so very contemporary. I'd think something like a simple baladi dress would work if you really want costuming, or as Tourbeau said, really contemporary urban dress like pants (jeans, even...I've never tried to dance in them, but i know people have and can). Might be worth checking out modern Algerian/Franco-Algerian dancers on YouTube (obviously not the more folkloric-type stuff; a Kabyle dress would not work), if you're trying to keep song and costuming consistent. Heck, lots of music videos have dancers: find a few raï videos with dancers.