Thread: What style of ghawazee is this please?

Hi guys does anyone know what kind of style ghawazee this is on U.tube.?I have posted the clip so hopefully someone will b ableto tell me from what era it comes from'as i just love this style of ghawazee.Here it is thanks guys stef.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEB4C...elated&search=

to me it looked like a mash. i actually thought tunisian more. tina

I didn't know there were different styles of ghawazee, I thought ghawazee was a style in it's own right...?..c::

Anyway, as I clearly don't know enough about it, I shan't comment further
D

Looks pretty Tunisian, especially the forward feet motion.
I'm guessing but it is more that than the Banat Massen (dont write me about spelling) from Egypt

no doubt about the style here...g.:

Originally Posted by lovetodance

Hi guys does anyone know what kind of style ghawazee this is on U.tube.?I have posted the clip so hopefully someone will b ableto tell me from what era it comes from'as i just love this style of ghawazee.Here it is thanks guys stef.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEB4C...elated&search=

The only style I'm familiar with is Banat Maazin (as above) and this clip does have a twistier effect that made me think of Tunisian, or even Moroccan chaabi.

BUT I know there are other Ghawazee styles that I'm just not familiar with, so I'm not saying this isn't... one of those.

i always though the only difference is this; are you trying to present a folk dance at SCA or are you trying to do it the way it is currently done. SCA bders wouldn't be caught dead in a current ghawazee costume. so i always thought the only difference was presentation not hip moves. tina

Originally Posted by lovetodance

Hi guys does anyone know what kind of style ghawazee this is on U.tube.? Hopefully someone will b ableto tell me from what era it comes from'as i just love this style of ghawazee.

I like the way she dances, but I wouldn't call it Ghawazee.

I would say that she's doing a mixture of Saidi and Oriental, while wearing a costume inspired by the 19th century Ghawazee. She does have some 3/4 shimmies in there which, depending on technique, can be either Ghawazee (with a bit of forward twist to them) or hagalla. Hers do seem to have that bit of Ghawazee twist. As I said, I like it, just wouldn't call the overall effect Ghawazee because of the other moves she does.

Caveat: my knowledge of Ghawazee is based solely on the Banat Maazin style, both watching them perform on video and taking 5 workshops with Khairiyya Maazin, the youngest sister. Morocco has told me that other Ghawazee families dance differently from the Banat Maazin, but I haven't seen them so I don't know how their style might differ.

Khairiyya Maazin doesn't dance to music with a Saidi beat. There's a distinctive musical style and repertoire of songs that she uses. The song in the clip (Tfarrak al Helawa) is a Saidi song, and therefore not one she would use. When she dances, if the band moves into a Saidi song, Khairiyya just does a step-left until they get back to Ghawazee music.

Maybe someday I'll upload to youtube the clip of Khairiyya and me dancing together at Ahlan wa Sahlan...

Originally Posted by tattood1

to me it looked like a mash. i actually thought tunisian more. tina

I agree with Tina, it looks like a mash to me! I've seen different presentations of Ghawazee but am most familiar with Banat Maazin.
It looked like Tunisian and a few Saidi steps...correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this is Metkal Kennawi and the song is one often referred to as "the water jug" song because he is singing about the girls fetching water from the village well and doing some flirting with the village boys while they are there...I have seen this song used for Raks Assaya and for a water jug dance--with pots balanced on the head while doing lots of twisty steps.
Her costume looks to be an adaptation (highly theatricalized) of a 18th century Ghawazee costume. Their sleeves most likely woudn't have been open at the shoulder and would have been longer and they would have had a scarf called a hizam fastened around their hips instead of a coin belt and there would have been very full harem style pants under the coat instead of a skirt. There is a fair amount of information about the Ghawazee on the net and on video. Aside from the modern stuff available from Khariya there are articles on the Gilded Serpent by Edwina Nearing. Aisha Ali has video with Banat Maazin footage and Bedia has a Ghawazee workshop tape that is out of print but if you can find a copy I highly recommend it.

Originally Posted by banatsusan

Aside from the modern stuff available from Khariya there are articles on the Gilded Serpent by Edwina Nearing. Aisha Ali has video with Banat Maazin footage and Bedia has a Ghawazee workshop tape that is out of print but if you can find a copy I highly recommend it.

Morocco also sells videos with footage of the Banat Maazin.

Thankyou for clearing this up for me.I just saw this U.tube clip titled Ghawazee;loved the dance clip and decided i wanted to learn this style.In another post i sent in for making Ghawazee/tribal costume in 1.Some asked what style of Ghawazee i was dancing'up till then i had no idea there where diffrent styles.So thankyou all ;now i will look up Banat Maazin and i have heard about these other videos you have mentioned so I;ll see if i can get my hands on them.I would love to see that clip u have Shira if when u have time I;ve trying for weeks to download clips from internet just to see the diffrence to make sure this is the style i lkike before i spend money on d.v.ds thanks guys. Stef.

In addition to the Aisha Ali/Morocco Banat Maazin footage, you can see Khairiyya Maazin dancing on the special features section of The Bellydancers of Cairo. It's good because she's just in a lounge somewhere, and although there is some clear editing, you can see all her movements clearly.

To me, this song of Metkaal Kenawe is a fellahin song, because of the predominance of rababa.
I'm might be wrong but I would not dance saidi to this song because I don't hear saidi, I hear maqsoum rhythm all the time.
Are my ears tricky?
Caroline

You can also see Khairiyya Maazin on Gypsy Trail part One and on Aisha Ali's Dances of Egypt. Both excellent videos

Originally Posted by carolabrie

To me, this song of Metkaal Kenawe is a fellahin song, because of the predominance of rababa.
I'm might be wrong but I would not dance saidi to this song because I don't hear saidi, I hear maqsoum rhythm all the time.
Are my ears tricky?
Caroline

I think the rhythm of the song is Fellahi, which is similar to malfouf (both 2/4) and is danced to by the fellahin who are the farmers/peasants of Upper Egypt. This is a song about fetching the water and would probably be danced in a long dress with ruffles on the bottom and a hip scarf and with a water jug--with movements to imitate the motions of filling and emptying the jugs...and things like passing the jug around the group or balancing it on the head or shoulder. I think some Saidi movements lend themselves well to the light, bouncy feel of the music. The dancer would need to be aware of the differences of where the Dums are placed and the differences in the time signature. Not saying that it sounds like Saidi rhythm...

There's also another tape out called Latcho Drom that has a section in it where the children are peaking over the wall at a group where a woman is dancing and then she leaves the "stage/table" and collects her child and another woman takes her place to dance. Does anyone know the tape/scene I'm referring to? I believe that to be a clip of Ghawazee dancing--based solely on the stomping step the woman executes and which I have been taught is characteristic of Ghawazee dancing.

thx for the thread - really informative!

in the context of above said what style of ghawazee is here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DdFLQvgHus

Carolabrie i join your post cause i was always confused reading that Bos Al Halawa is a saidi song (i've read it in many places) and hearing the different rhythm in it. Maybe it's so said cause the musicians (Kenawe family) are the saidis themselves?

Clips of Khairiyya Maazin on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKqSDgw-1ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeblxiR-pKY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoC8t4ciGEE

Banatsusan, I listened to the clip again (and did a quick research in list of CDs to find out that I have the song on the CD Sahra Saeedi of Metkaal Kenawe !!!) and you are definitly right, it's not a maqsoum rhythm but a fellahi. I was out of track.
So yes, the "jar" dance would be the most appropriate style of dancing on that song.
Caroline

Not every Saidi song has that distinct Saidi rhythm. Some do have the fellahi rhythm. It's okay to dance Saidi style moves (including raqs al assaya) to a song like Tfarrak al Helawa (the song in that clip) if that's what your inner dancer wants to do. But it's not a song I'd try to dance Banat Maazin style Ghawazee to.

Remember that the "jar dance" was invented by Mahmoud Reda. (My source for this info was Reda himself in my interview.) He created it as a result of seeing women carry jars to the river to get water. Before he came along, Egyptian fellahi women didn't dance with jars. I don't know whether they do today, but if they do, it's because of seeing Reda Troupe use jars to represent them. Also, not every Reda Troupe fellahin dance uses jars, though admittedly many do. Reda liked the balas (jar) as a prop because it was something a story could be built around - for example, if a woman was carrying one, a man could offer to carry it for her. The fellahi people he observed were in the north, in the Nile delta area. Full details of the fellahin dance will appear in a future issue of Zaghareet magazine as part 6 of my series of articles based on that interview with Reda. (Part 5 will be Nubian, it comes out in July, Part 6 with the fellahin will be next, probably in September.)

By the way, if you like the song Tfarrak al Helawa, there's a translation on my web site at www.shira.net/lyrics.htm . It's such a fun song!

That's interesting that Reda invented the dance-always nice to add more information to the files and I was only suggesting that dancing with the water jug would be an appropriate way to dance to this piece, not the only way. I have an old video of a group of dancers doing a water jug dance and I was at a show where Nadia Hamdi danced to this song with a basket. I also would not dance Ghawazee style with this piece.
I'm curious, Shira, do you have the Latch Drom Video and know which scene I was referring to above?? Have an opinion based on your knowledge of the Ghawazee movements if this is indeed another clip of Ghawazee dancing???

[QUOTE=nuringa;24438]thx for the thread - really informative!

in the context of above said what style of ghawazee is here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DdFLQvgHus

Doesn't seem to be Ghawazee to me but maybe the person who named the clip has a different meaning in mind for "Ghawazee"? I was doing a little quick net research where on one page the modern meaning of Ghawazee was "street dancing" or anyone who performs outdoors. I am wondering if the person who posted this is using the term Ghawazee interchangably with Shaaby??? Also looked at a couple of other clips with this same instructor and they were similar and one in particular is called shaaby
http://konkan.tv/view/fa8b74fd4b6791d0cf6d

Originally Posted by nuringa

thx for the thread - really informative!

in the context of above said what style of ghawazee is here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DdFLQvgHus

Carolabrie i join your post cause i was always confused reading that Bos Al Halawa is a saidi song (i've read it in many places) and hearing the different rhythm in it. Maybe it's so said cause the musicians (Kenawe family) are the saidis themselves?

I've been to "modern Ghawazee" workshops with Khaled Mahmoud and leila of Cairo and I kept thinking to myself..mmm..sha'abi mmm is there saidi but then I thought "who am I..etc..etc.."

After all just as orientale dance has evolved over dance so will steet dance which is surely what Ghawazee was. The "trad" Ghawazee is mesmerising to watch when done by the originals, done by the rest of us rather repetitive and probably best embellished by doing a "modern" version or "fused" as I suspect the first U tube offering was with other "folky" moves.
We fused Ghawazee with ATS so I'll not knock any "fuser"!..g.:

Originally Posted by lizajuk

I've been to "modern Ghawazee" workshops with Khaled Mahmoud and leila of Cairo and I kept thinking to myself..mmm..sha'abi mmm is there saidi but then I thought "who am I..etc..etc.."

After all just as orientale dance has evolved over dance so will steet dance which is surely what Ghawazee was. The "trad" Ghawazee is mesmerising to watch when done by the originals, done by the rest of us rather repetitive and probably best embellished by doing a "modern" version or "fused" as I suspect the first U tube offering was with other "folky" moves.
We fused Ghawazee with ATS so I'll not knock any "fuser"!..g.:

PS Have booked to do "Ghawazee" with Maria D'Silva at JOY so all remains to be seen.

Originally Posted by banatsusan

There's also another tape out called Latcho Drom that has a section in it where the children are peaking over the wall at a group where a woman is dancing and then she leaves the "stage/table" and collects her child and another woman takes her place to dance. Does anyone know the tape/scene I'm referring to? I believe that to be a clip of Ghawazee dancing--based solely on the stomping step the woman executes and which I have been taught is characteristic of Ghawazee dancing.

YES, I know the scene! The woman, who was dancing in a full, very covering galibeya with a hip scarf sit down, pulls out her boob in the middle of the crowd and starts nursing her infant. ..l;, Struck me as a great example of how the Arab culture is both more modest and more earthy than our own, which can really feel like a dichotomy sometimes.

Sure looked like the Maazin ghawazee to me!

<< Doesn't seem to be Ghawazee to me but maybe the person who named the clip has a different meaning in mind for "Ghawazee"? I was doing a little quick net research where on one page the modern meaning of Ghawazee was "street dancing" or anyone who performs outdoors. I am wondering if the person who posted this is using the term Ghawazee interchangably with Shaaby??? Also looked at a couple of other clips with this same instructor and they were similar and one in particular is called shaaby >>

I'm having the problem now with ghawazee (modern ghawazee)... I buy a lot of DVD of workshops from Little Egypt. I have some called "Ghawazee with Aida Nour, with Magdy, cane with Magdy, etc. And I have Aida Nour in show from Little Egypt too and Arabesque Co. from Toronto. Sometimes, Aida dances on Hakim, it's called Ghawazee, she dances on pop, it's called ghawazee, she dances on Fatme Serhan, it's called ghawazee. Magdy dances to pop songs and more saidi pieces, it's called ghawazee.

So, obviously, I need help trying to redifine the term ghawazee. Maybe my point of view was too closed but ghawazee is more like Mazin Style for the moves and the choices of songs.

Thanks
Caroline

Originally Posted by lovetodance

Hi guys does anyone know what kind of style ghawazee this is on U.tube.?I have posted the clip so hopefully someone will b ableto tell me from what era it comes from'as i just love this style of ghawazee.Here it is thanks guys stef.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEB4C...elated&search=

Hi - what made you think it was ghawazee? Is it how the dancer described her dance? Doesn't look even vaguely ghawazee to me (from workshops by Denise Enan, Aida Nour, Dr Mo Geddawi and videos from Rocky & Aisha Ali on Banat Maazin - the most well known ghawazee dancers) Rhythm wrong, movements too big, too much upper body and undulations, not enough shimmy, not enough heavy earthiness, posture too upright, too much arm waving - I'm not saying she cannot dance - just that it isn't ghawazee.

Hi Kashmir'Well I;ve never seen Ghawazee before and when i saw that clip;I loved the style of the dance'that the dancer was doing'and the clip was called Ghawazee;so I;just figured this is Ghawazee.But I thought the Ghawazee style had very big hip movments;I know theres a lot of shimmy Ghawazeee style of course.But I;m actually starting classes this week in Sydney with a group that only dance folklorick style.So and includes Ghawazee;so cant wait for that'when I;ve had a few lessons I;ll report back with what I;ve learnt thanks everyone so much imfo.thanks again stef.

Originally Posted by kashmir

Hi - what made you think it was ghawazee? Is it how the dancer described her dance? .

Probably the name of the clip on youtube.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Probably the name of the clip on youtube.

Missed that