Thread: melaya leff revisited

What are good songs other than the piece from Wash ya wash vol 2 and Hakim songs to use for a melaya leff? any suggestions?

Alrana

Anything that's a fast maqsoum, apparently.

Any "cheeky" old song - Si Abdou springs to mind.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Anything that's a fast maqsoum, apparently.

Really? ,r:;

According to Maria's old notes, yeah.

"Binti Bahari" - not sure who did the original, but Arabesque Dance Co. has a version on the Asala CD/DVD (there are two CD's, can't remember which one its on right now)

sounds a bit like the ending of the one on Wash ya wash Vol.2 but it is definetely arranged differntly. here is a clip from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2wlQecLldg

hope that helps :)

Alexandrian style uses songs that emphasize the water (banat bahri) & the girls beauty & grace. I also agree with Kashmir, the CD Exotic balady also has some nice cheeky songs, but be careful of the Egyptian double meanings if you are performing for Egyptians or Arabs who know the double meanings. The CD I heard was banned in Egypt...

Yasmina of Cairo taught a fab Melaya workshop using a song called Edellah Ala Kayfak

It's an Alexandrian song and the title means Spoil Yourself Just As You Like.
The version she used was from her own CD Heya di Yasmina and it really was a great song to use - cute and sassy.

You can get the CD from www.aladdinscave.com

Originally Posted by sunshine

Yasmina of Cairo taught a fab Melaya workshop using a song called Edellah Ala Kayfak

It's an Alexandrian song and the title means Spoil Yourself Just As You Like.
The version she used was from her own CD Heya di Yasmina and it really was a great song to use - cute and sassy.

You can get the CD from www.aladdinscave.com

That's exactly the song I used for my first milaya dance, years ago! Different version, though. I used the one from Judy Reda's Nightclub Music, available from Hollywood Music.

Originally Posted by sunshine

Yasmina of Cairo taught a fab Melaya workshop using a song called Edellah Ala Kayfak

It's an Alexandrian song and the title means Spoil Yourself Just As You Like.
The version she used was from her own CD Heya di Yasmina and it really was a great song to use - cute and sassy.

You can get the CD from www.aladdinscave.com

There is also a great version of this song on Hossam Ramzy's album 'El Sultaan'. I use it a lot (and now want to hear Yasmina's version, too!).
M.

Fast pop songs work. Raqia Hassan's vol 9 has a cute number on it, I am not sure of the music. Also look for the words eskandariya (from Alexandria) on the titles of the songs , alot of those songs are good for Melaya leff.

thanks for the info and help, now to find and pick the piece of music i like..

Alrana

Marwa does a version of a song that is on that Wash ya Wash medley, "Tayara" (plane?) I wonder if that's worth a shot for melaya...

Originally Posted by sunshine

Yasmina of Cairo taught a fab Melaya workshop using a song called Edellah Ala Kayfak

It's an Alexandrian song and the title means Spoil Yourself Just As You Like.
The version she used was from her own CD Heya di Yasmina and it really was a great song to use - cute and sassy.

You can get the CD from www.aladdinscave.com

Yep, that is what I was going to recommend, it is a really cut song. We have a Melaya Lef/Iskandarani on our Layali Kortouba CD produced by Bassam Ayoub. Also PE-KO Records came out with a cd with many songs from Bassam that that you can use. The title is not in my head but the dancer on the cover is Victoria and she is wearing a read beaded scarf on her head.

I think the bassam cd with viktoria on the front is called "raks ayoub". there are two good melaya leff pieces on it.

outi's cd has a 'cocktail eskandarani' or something like that on it.

Hello everyone. I searched the classic bhuz and I have been searching the new bhuz but I have not found an answer to this question: What is melaya leff?
I have seen you tube clips, I have heard the music clips, I see ads for the costuming BUT...where did it come from? What region? I get that it is a cheeky dance but why? When was it performed?
If I have missed the thread that supplies this information, please direct me otherwise please tell me all you know... my need for "more input" is going to drive me insane! :)
~Helena

It was a character dance originally designed by Mahmoud Reda. The best resource I can think of is an article in Zaghareet earlier this year where Shira interviewed him about the dance and its' origins. (It's part of a series of articles she wrote from an interview with him being serialized in Zaghareet)

Thank you. I hope I own that issue. Now I can't wait to get home and pour through them! LOL! :)

Originally Posted by helenasdance

Hello everyone. I searched the classic bhuz and I have been searching the new bhuz but I have not found an answer to this question: What is melaya leff?
I have seen you tube clips, I have heard the music clips, I see ads for the costuming BUT...where did it come from? What region? I get that it is a cheeky dance but why? When was it performed?

It is attributed to Mahmoud Reda as a theatre tableau. It depicts the bint al balad from Alexandria (or Cairo) in the traditional costume of the time - the meleya over "normal" clothes ie a dress, manzil, bura and shoes. These days the dress is often over the top with ruffles and asymmetry - that is very new. Reda's original dress was a plain dress, mid calf with a pattern of roses printed on the fabric.

That said - there is older footage of women in meleyas who appear in the old Egyptian movies - but they don't dance as such in them.

There are many different interpretations - even within Egypt. I was introduced to meleya by Raqia in 1996. Her version is very sassy, even sexy with the emphasis on attitude and the torso.

Next time I saw meleya it was with Denise Enan (who grew up seeing women wearing them every day, using them as baskets for carrying food or kids as well as modesty and warmth). Her version was cheekier, lighter with a lot of manipulation - without doing the "flying veil" thing - open, unwrap, wrap, stole etc.

Aida Nour is from Alexandria and loves meleya - but I confess hers is my least favourite style - lots of flying veil, swishing etc in which the prop becomes more important than the dance - and with the least personality in the dancer. (Note, I said "the least" - not none!) (Z - it is quite possible she told Maria that "any fast maqsoum" would be suitable - as she wants the meleya to fly - but it wouldn't suit Raqia's style, and not really Denise's either)

Damn that Aida and her unsettling of conventions! She does what she wants, that woman. I do wish I could have gotten to study with her.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Damn that Aida and her unsettling of conventions! She does what she wants, that woman. I do wish I could have gotten to study with her.

With the change of Winter Warmup ..cr.: , she's unlikely to be at Brisbane again - but you could always catch her in Cairo

The milaya began as a modesty garment for Egyptian women -- something to wrap over their dresses when they went out in public. On stage, it becomes very flirtatious -- nothing modest about it!

When I was in my masters' program at Georgetown, one of the films we watched was Uridu Hallan -- "I want a solution" -- about a woman trying to get a divorce. In contrast with the main character was a saucy woman in a milaya. Boy, I would love to get a copy of this movie! I would shamelessly copy everything that woman in the milaya did. ;-)

Hmmm... I should put my milaya dance on youtube. Where is that old Rakkasah video, I wonder??