Thread: Algerian Rai

Hey

i'm dancing at a party tomorrow where they insist i do only one egyptian style entrace song... and then dance to algerian rai. and THEIR cd.

i'm going to start googling and youtubing now, but what am i to expect??? i have some rai cd's so i'll listen to that too.

they know bellydancers and have seen bellydance before and are not expecting me to dance folcloric style. and i'm going round a few hours before the gig to pic up some cds so i can hear the music beforehand.

but it's still scaring me! also, i wont have any clou what the songs are about

so, any links, ideas, any advice?

Artemisia

OK
just found that i have way more rai on cd then i thought, so emailed them back that i will be using RAI, but MY cds. then at least i know the songs. any tips on how to dance on them. going through my workshops notes and do have some ideas, but more are welcome. and still a bit worried about the lyrics.

Isn't Khaled's "Aisha" a fairly innocuous song in terms of lyrics? I'm not sure at all just positing the question since it's obviously about a girl. But, then, I love the song and can't really remember whether it'd be super danceable other than for fun social dancing.

I got this from Wikpedia about Cheb Khaled and the lyrics to Aicha.

Khaled also writes political lyrics in favour of emancipation of women and more democracy. The lyrics to Aicha, written by the singer songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman, which was in the charts in many countries of Western Europe, are about a man's lament that his love Aïcha does not notice him, even though he offers her everything, even his life. In the end, Aïcha answers he should keep his treasure, that she's worth more and does not want to live in a cage, even a solid gold one, but equal rights and respect which form true love:

problem with aicha is that it's endless repeating of the same near the end... it's a good party song, but performing, hmm
but it's on the long list

Wikipedia IS the best thing since sliced bread. I'd die without it.

Cheb Khaled's Cd "kenza" has some non political and in particluar Raba Raba is great and and there Didi on "Hafla" .
Cheb mami's Dellali has translations of songs into French and English. Only Why Me? sounds political although some are very sad sounding!.

hey

i think i got it sorted, almost

- a song from Djamel, he's a belgian based algerian singer and the organisers know him

- abdel ali slimani - moi e toi. i actually use this for warm ups! it's about a north african immigrant having relationship troubles... it's not great but at least i know it well, i dont want to perform tomorrow to a song i heard for the first time today really

and yes... probably l'éternel aicha..

and something short oriental to open with not sure yet

Wish I was going to be there so you could pull me up to dance - I love Rai. love love love Khaled.

ha, i'll keep that in mind if i ever perform anywhere where you'll be... ;-)

Ooh, I love Djamel! Which song are you thinking about?
Good luck, I'm sure you'll do great! Let us know how it goes!

Hi Queenie

yes, i like djamel too, i saw him perform twice now. i even talked to his manager once about them having a dancer but that didnt lead to anything.

i danced to Mezelni Maak

my performance was ok, not great, not bad, but OK. three algerian songs is really too much for me, too poppy too. i prefer my cairo classics! but they seemed happy with it... but they audience was this typical flemish bunch that just wants to watch, while the organiser had it in his head that everybody would jump up and boogy! i did get several people to dance with me, but most seemed to prefer just watching... ;-)

my costume was a hit though (funky madam able from meissoun)

Artemisia

Artemisia

A little tidbit that might give some perspective: I heard that Cheba Zahouania's concerts feature girls in belly-dance costumes.

I guess the dancing is innocuous as most of her songs (as far as I know) are about her body, where she sleeps, doing it in the garage, and the joys of eating grilled meat and drinking whiskey. It is a raï of la joie de vivre, if you will.

I don't know what these people are thinking if they only want you to dance to raï, but...it might be easier to dance to if you choose songs with 6/8 or 3/4 rhythms (however it is described). They usually have more distinct percussion that you can groove to. Just a suggestion, I would have no idea what to do in your situation. Eegads, why do they hire a trained belly dancer?

Crap! you already did it. I'm so glad that it was a success ..g.:

"Meli Meli" by Cheb Mami is probably my favorite rai song. I forget what the lyrics mean, but it is very danceable and (IIRC) very lightweight.

On one of my trips to Algeria I bought a lot of belly dance CD's (on the street), when I watched them, they were mostly Egyptian belly dancers with small Egyptian bands, but they had completely dubbed them over with Rai music. Don't worry about dancing to any Rai music, no matter what the lyrics (and most are political or about being homesick for Algeria -since a lot of the music was done by artist in France until recently-or drinking and having lots of problems with everything) they will dance to the songs. One of my first Rai concerts (by my favorite Rai singer Cheb Nasro) everyone was up and dancing and I asked my friend to translate. It was about a guy so hopeless that he wanted to committ suicide by slitting his wrists. But all the people were laughing and having a great time dancing. Being used to Egyptian music, it took me a long time to adjust to Algerian music. Speaking of Cheb Nasro, he did a CD a couple of years back in the US (through MondoMedia) and he has a variety of fusion songs on the CD.

thanks Hannan,

yeah, i looked up some song translations, and boy, a lot is indeed pretty depressing. a lot from the immigrant perspective.

i also found several that were pretty, eh, juicy, (describing the female body and its functions...).

my favourite is Houria Aiche, i've had her cds for a while, but a lot of her texts are religious. a couple are feminist. there is some that i really want to dance to, it's beautifull, but too many allahs in them...

i had the gig already, but these people might ask me back, so thanks everyone for the input!

Originally Posted by hannanesfo

On one of my trips to Algeria I bought a lot of belly dance CD's (on the street), when I watched them, they were mostly Egyptian belly dancers with small Egyptian bands, but they had completely dubbed them over with Rai music. Don't worry about dancing to any Rai music, no matter what the lyrics (and most are political or about being homesick for Algeria -since a lot of the music was done by artist in France until recently-or drinking and having lots of problems with everything) they will dance to the songs. One of my first Rai concerts (by my favorite Rai singer Cheb Nasro) everyone was up and dancing and I asked my friend to translate. It was about a guy so hopeless that he wanted to committ suicide by slitting his wrists. But all the people were laughing and having a great time dancing. Being used to Egyptian music, it took me a long time to adjust to Algerian music. Speaking of Cheb Nasro, he did a CD a couple of years back in the US (through MondoMedia) and he has a variety of fusion songs on the CD.

He's here in DC (the last time I checked)! And what a character.

Hi Kamilla,
Glad to hear that Nasro is still around, we haven't heard from him in over a year-if you run into him tell him to call his friends in San Francisco (Linda and Khalfallah). We're going to Algeria in Sept and will stop by to see his family in Oran.