Thread: Must-Have Cds

I'm feeling so uninspired by my current music collection and would love to add to it. Any special cds that you find irresistible or cd vendors you use that you would like to recommend? I love tribal (all tribal), orchestral Egyptian, Egyptian pop ... pretty much everything.


Thanks in advance.

I have been listening to some Jalilah CDs. They're really nice. Also check out the Your favorite music thread. I asked some people what their favorite Cds were and so far they have been pretty good recommendations.

The Jalilah CDs are high on many dancers' 'must have' lists.

If I could only own one pop CD, it would be Hakim's "Yaho," So lively & danceable, I still use a lot of those tracks for audience stuff.

Another enduring fave for me is Fatme Sirhan's 'best of saidi.' It's not actually Saidi music, it's the music from Dina's 'Live in Monte Carlo' performance and includes some classic baladi music and some Oum Kolthoum classics.

The Cairo Orchestra's tribute to Oum Kalthoum is a must-have, IMHO.

If you're into tribal, I would also recommend Maduro's Shimmer Sustain, only partly because I know him in person and he's a great guy. :)

Bellydance Music Rough Guide. I don't know why I like this CD but I do.

Originally Posted by Michelle75

Bellydance Music Rough Guide. I don't know why I like this CD but I do.

Um, because it is awesome? :)

It was the first "real" (not pop) bellydance CD I ever bought, and I still love it, especially the first track, which is an excerpt from a much longer Jalilah piece inspired by Tahia Carioka.

Songs from the Victorious City(it is new agey but I still love it),Amar 14, Alabina(spanish flavor),Lorena McKennitt's Mask and mirror(great for veil or practice) anything Eddie Kochak (2,3&4)
I have many more but theses are my faves.

Alrana

Great suggestions. I have all the Jalilah cds and I just bought the Songs From the Victorious City cd.

I pretty much have every cd on Peko's site and Maqam's. Are there any other places to shop for music?

Rashid's has a great selection, including a lot of stuff Maqam doesn't have. Though their website is a little clunky.

Originally Posted by Khaleela

Great suggestions. I have all the Jalilah cds and I just bought the Songs From the Victorious City cd.

I pretty much have every cd on Peko's site and Maqam's. Are there any other places to shop for music?

Whoah. YOu have every CD on Maqam's site? That's amazing. Wish you lived near me so I could come visit that collection! (I thought I had too many CDs, I only had maybe a hundred!)

LOL. Over the last few years I made it a goal to buy at least two or three cds a month. It helped that Chandra had this crazy music sell a couple of years ago where you could get 10 cds for like $100 plus shipping.

The funny thing is that I'm missing some of the great songs that I hear at shows and haflas somehow.

I just bought Alwan min Alsharq vol. I and II from Dahlal...REALLY great music on those.

Turbo Tabla (both CDS)...Karim is an amazing drummer, and the music is just FUN!

Also just picked up (at Cairo Carnivale) Belly dance with Jim Boz! He's got a great selection of songs!

Kairo by Night "Lahadat" is awesome...

any of Yasmina Ramzy's orchestra cds (available thru www.arabesquedance.ca)

I also recommend www.rashid.com ...I just ordered a bunch of CDS from them! I'll look through my collection tonight when I get home...I have so many stinkin' cds, I can't remember most of them.

~Yasmin Diab

Holy Cow. I was just browsing on rashid.com and came across this CD. It has like everybody who is anybody on it! I have most of the originals but this is all on 1 CD!

THE MASTERS OF BELLY DANCE MUSIC
1. Dr. Samy Farrag - Rakasni Ya Habibi(Classical Egyptien [5.28] 2. Setrak - Layali (Egyptian Balady) [4.25] 3. Saltin's Of Al Tarab Orchesta - Aziza(ClassicalEgyptian)[436] 4. Aboud Abd El Al - Afrah El Said (Egyptian Folkloric)[5.50] 5. Cairo Orchestra - Henna Ya Henna (Classical Egyptian)[5.10] 6. Mohamad Ali Ensemble - Inta Omry (Classical Egyptian)[4.53] 7. Hamouda Ali - Nagwa (Classcal Egyptian)[5.15] 8. Samir Srour - Suhair Zaki In Balady (Egyptian Balady)[4.36] 9. Upper Egypt Ensemble - (Saidi Party)[3.22] 10. Bassil Moubayed - Sahra (Classical EgEgyptian)[4.44] 11. Sami Nossair Orchestra - Tamr Henna (Classical Egyptian0[5.56] 12. Fatma Serhan - Ala Wark El Foul (Egyptian Balady)[4.41] 13. Al Ahram Orchestra - Layali El Sharq (Modern Egyptian)[8.00] 14. Eddie Kochak - Arabian Cabaret)[5.06]

It's been several months since the last post on this thread. What CD's would you add?

What do you recommend for beginners?

What's out there that is fabulous but is "off the beaten path"?

Originally Posted by norma

Holy Cow. I was just browsing on rashid.com and came across this CD. It has like everybody who is anybody on it! I have most of the originals but this is all on 1 CD!

THE MASTERS OF BELLY DANCE MUSIC
1. Dr. Samy Farrag - Rakasni Ya Habibi(Classical Egyptien [5.28] 2. Setrak - Layali (Egyptian Balady) [4.25] 3. Saltin's Of Al Tarab Orchesta - Aziza(ClassicalEgyptian)[436] 4. Aboud Abd El Al - Afrah El Said (Egyptian Folkloric)[5.50] 5. Cairo Orchestra - Henna Ya Henna (Classical Egyptian)[5.10] 6. Mohamad Ali Ensemble - Inta Omry (Classical Egyptian)[4.53] 7. Hamouda Ali - Nagwa (Classcal Egyptian)[5.15] 8. Samir Srour - Suhair Zaki In Balady (Egyptian Balady)[4.36] 9. Upper Egypt Ensemble - (Saidi Party)[3.22] 10. Bassil Moubayed - Sahra (Classical EgEgyptian)[4.44] 11. Sami Nossair Orchestra - Tamr Henna (Classical Egyptian0[5.56] 12. Fatma Serhan - Ala Wark El Foul (Egyptian Balady)[4.41] 13. Al Ahram Orchestra - Layali El Sharq (Modern Egyptian)[8.00] 14. Eddie Kochak - Arabian Cabaret)[5.06]

this is wonderful,

I also just started listening to The Soul of Cairo, which is wonderful, haven't found a clunker yet.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Whoah. YOu have every CD on Maqam's site? That's amazing. Wish you lived near me so I could come visit that collection! (I thought I had too many CDs, I only had maybe a hundred!)

For real! 100 CD's and I thought I was nuts. Although I admit I have more CASSETTES!!!!! then CD's. Other sites are Dahlal Internationale : Welcome! and enter.html


I like just about anything by Setrak. But especially Vol. 17, 19, 21 and Layali Zaman, and Champagne Belly Dance.

I like Daniel Der Sahakian's VOS stuff. My favorites would be "Belly Dance with Omkalsssoum" and "Yalla bin yalla" and Belly Dance with Samara.

Fatme Serhan is good too especially the "Best of Saidi".

I like Adam Basma's vol.1

I like Samy Farag's Fatouma CD also his Midnight Magic.

More recently, Layali Al Sharq with the Al-Ahram Orchestra.

I think Suhaila Salimpour's Arabian Musicals 1-3 is a good collection of the major Egyptian musicales.

ditto on VOS!! especially the oum kalsoum one that has mona siad on the cover. hands down the best leilet hob in the universe! (how's that for an endorsement!)

also aswan nights? from pe-ko with soheir zaki on the cover witht e sphinx...has an awesome version of fakkarouni-yummy!

Not overly original (and some mentioned above), but these are the CD's I keep coming back to:

BBC's 'Arabic Jukebox' (EMI label)- like a 'Rough Guide' CD with a bit of everything. Very listenable and danceable. [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-Arabic-Jukebox-Various-Artists/dp/B0001O2DZK]Amazon.co.uk: BBC Arabic Jukebox: Various Artists: Music[/ame]

Light Rain's 'Dark Fire' - slightly Hollywood harem sound, which my students love. The constant rhythms are great for classroom practice.

'On Fire', accompanying CD to the performance DVD of the same name.

'Champagne Bellydance' by Setrak Sirkissian - I've used track 4 onwards as my standard party performance set about a million times and I still love it! Lots of different melodies, all short enough for the audience's attention span and can incorp. lots of different prop work.

'Shik Shak Shook' - great for class practice, especially zills, as some of the tracks are repetitive and not too fast. I also love the slightly cheesy sound! https://www.hollywoodmusiccenter.com...guage=english&

'Jalilah's Raks Sharki 6: In a Beirut Mood', for it's two fabulous extended performance tracks plus some lovely taxim.

I also like Hakim's 'Yaho' or Saad's 'Prince of Shaabi' for some crowd-pleasing pop (or shaabi).

Arabesque Dance Company's Asala 1 CD is a new personal favourite...it has a 25 minute version of Inta Omri that is breathtaking, amazing, wonderful, perfect, to die for! ...so yeah, good album. ..g.:

Here is the list of CD's I recommend in my "Professional Dancer Lecture"
it has a nice mix of classical and modern as well as Lebanese and Turkish music


a) Jalilah series:Casino Opera—Amar 14—Raks Sharki—In a Beirut Mood
b) A Tribute to Om Kalsoum
c) Layali Yasmina
d) Tabel Ya Issam
e) Beyond the Desert
f) Princess of Cairo
g) Layali Zaman
h) Very Belly Dance
i) BDSS Vol. 1,2,3
j) Ya Salam Ya Fahtiem
k) Yoho-Hakim (pop)
l) Egypt 2000, 2001 etc (pop)
m) Arabia Now series 1-7(pop)
n) The Magic of John Bilezikjian-Julia’s Dream (Turkish)
o) The Best of the Sultan’s (Turkish)
p) Asena (Turkish)
q)Tarkan (Turkish)
r) Amani and the Badawist
s) Amani red album and blue album
t) Warda 2 CD series