Thread: What would you dance on a moroccan wedding?

I've been asked to dance at a moroccan wedding and since I've never done that before, I feel it's time to educate myself...

It actually isn't a traditional moroccan wedding, but the bride to be is moroccan, so there will be a mixed public: half dutch, half moroccan.
My performances are very western oriented (and I make sure my clients know that) but still, it would be good to learn a litte more on traditions and maybe give a litte moroccan "touch" to this gig...

So I was wondering if you could give me some tips? Music suggestions, do's and don'ts, things to pay attention to regarding costume, ...
Anything you can think of!

Please educate me ..g.:

I've never been to a Moroccan wedding in Europe/US, but the traditional dance (from the Berbers) is to wear a djellaba and jingly belt, and the dance is mostly shimmies. Here's an example of it:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYazDOl1ook]YouTube - Moroccan Womens' Music and Dance Troupe[/ame]

When I was in Morocco, I saw this performed on a lot of occasions, including engagement parties, restaurants, etc., both among Berbers and Arabs.

Rai music is really popular among Moroccans also, so anything danced to Cheb Khalid (the most known rai singer), I think they will enjoy.

Moroccans know belly dance is middle eastern; so they would be expecting a middle eastern dance, it would be cute and thoughtful to maybe do a cute little moroccan thing...but I wouldn't overdo it...but I'm sure she is expecting middle eastern music if she hired a bellydancer...
just my 2 cents

and there are moroccan rai singers, like cheba maria, etc...

you don't have to stick to the algerian ones like cheb khaled

Thx for the input!

You're right sharifeh, she'll expect middle eastern dance and music, but it would be fun to do something moroccan, like one song or so.
Something that'll make them go "ah I loved that bellydancer, she even danced to .... "
So they'll remember me next time they're having a wedding ;-)

Ya I know exactly what you mean!! I think that will be very succesful if you do one or two moroccan songs
But I don't know if rai would be a good choice. here is a list of recording artists Aubre Hill (LA) recommended for moroccan dance


Hamza El Din
Rachid Halihal
Amul Koutchi
Chalf Hassan
Hamid Ezzahir

Also if you can find it, the album "Moroccan Gypsies" is gorgeous.

"lalla fatima" by chalf hassan is supposed to be good!


also bdss danced to this one rai song
celibataire by cheba maria
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NmgK-Gq280]YouTube - Cheba Maria Celibataire[/ame]

here is a short clip of the bdss
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zsZIfSwOFc"]YouTube - Sonia Moroccan song[/ame]

donno how appropriate it would be to dance to that 'Celibataire' song. 'célibataire' is french for single, not in a relationship. so for a wedding....

Good point Kathiya :-)

Thx for all the tips Sharifeh! I'm going to do some searching when I get home, don't have sound on my pc at the office.

Maybe a better question would have been: what's the most popular moroccan song you know?
Think I'm gonna ask it in the music forum :-)

Hi there. From my experience attending many Moroccan parties and weddings, their belly dance preference is the same as you see in the Middle East: Egyptian style mainly. But Morocco also has its own style of belly dance called "shaykha". Are you familiar with Moroccan chaabi music? Not the same as Egyptian but if you google it you'll find information. It's "country" music, fast and played with a fiddle, and often women dance with long Moroccan dresses, belted at the waist or with a scarf around the hips.
Moroccan belly dance is less varied than Egyptian, and basically, the more you have to wiggle and shake, the better!

I would suggest doing a routine you would normally do, then change into a takchita if you can borrow one, or wear a long caftan that can be belted or with a scarf tied at the hips, and lead the guests in one of the bride's favorite songs. If you could ask her or find out from a friend who her favorite Moroccan singer is, this would help in giving advice. They will be impressed you took the time to make it "Moroccan" and the dancing is so fun. Chaabi, as well as Berber (Amazigh) music songs can go on for a long time, like 20 minutes, and are almost hynoptic and fast. You get an amazing workout!

If you google Amazigh and Chaabi dancing as well as music videos, you'll see the style I mean. Even the videos of Zina Daoudia demonstrate the kind of dancing, even if it's not the style of music you want. The shimmies are somewhat large, centered on the hips and butt, with occasional shoulder shimmies. Moroccans also 'travel' across the floor in small steps. I hope this was helpful. I do suggest you find out where the bride is from exactly, as the music style really varies geographically and not everybody loves chaabi...however, if you pick something Amazigh-sounding you can't go wrong as most Moroccans are at least part Berber.

P.S. I hope I didn't confuse you. It seems that when Moroccans hire a belly dancer they expect the Egyptian style of performance. But if you are at all able to incorporate a Moroccan song at the end to get everyone dancing, I highly recommend it.

Thx for all the input Elisa!

I too would advice you that if you do want to incorporate Moroccon dance and/or music into you show you should find out where the bride to be is from, as really most Arab Moroccons do not particularly like Berber music and the other way around (honoustly they mostly don't even like each other).

Also, if you're not really known with Moroccon music and dance perhaps it's even best not and try to incorporate this into your show, not only will this save you time and trouble but also most Moroccons are somewhat critical and you don't wan't them to think "what is she doing?!".

Whatever you decide: enjoy and have fun and invite the girls to come and dance with you at a certain point, they love to dance!

B

I dance for Moroccan's alot, in fact I just got home from dancing in a Moroccan restaurant about an hour ago, and from my experience if they hire a dancer for oriental they expect just that, definitely on the more egyptian style rather than american.

For a Moroccan touch I would go with chaabi, that's what people dance to all the time. Dressed in a caftan it would be great, nit in bedlah. I would avoid anything pop, definitley not algerian rai.
But if you aren,t familiar with Moroccan music it could be confusing as the rythms can get a little tricky as well as the footwork.

*** Just a little correction too, Hamza el Din is a Nubian oud player, far from Moroccan.

"I too would advice you that if you do want to incorporate Moroccon dance and/or music into you show you should find out where the bride to be is from, as really most Arab Moroccons do not particularly like Berber music and the other way around (honoustly they mostly don't even like each other)."

Just a correction to that--Morocco is 99.1 percent Arab/Berber mixed. The Berber influence on music is widespread, not to say that many may have their own particularly Arab preference in music. However to say they do not like each other...is not true. Most families are of Arab/Berber descent, and the ones that are only Arab, well, maybe you met some who don't like Berbers, but to judge from all the Moroccan musicians who travel in the states to perform, most of them perform traditionally-based music. Morocco is quite a tolerant country, both of its Arab/Berber heritage and its Jewish minority.

Chalf Hassan's CD "Moroccan Belly Dance" has some great music on it ..... "Zayani El Rifi" is my favorite. I haven't been able to find the lyric translations, 'tho...

I'm sorry but I have to disagree a bit on the numbers here. According to my knowledge and sources about 75% of the people is from Imazighen (Berber) decent as the original citizens of Northern Africa (thus incl. Morocco) were Imazighen. Although the origin of the Imazighen themselfs is indecisive. There are sources that indicate they are originally (mixed with citizens) from Asia, Spain and even Germany. But that's a whole other story..

Mohim, I'm not trying to generalise, I'm merely basing this statement on my own experiences and talking about this with Moroccon natives both from Arab and from Berber decent, living in Europe and in Morocco (I have a business there and travel back and forth several times a year).

And you are right that they are quite tolerant, however they are critical, so I was just trying to advise and share my 2 cents with LunaBelgium.

B

Originally Posted by ElisaDance

Just a correction to that--Morocco is 99.1 percent Arab/Berber mixed. The Berber influence on music is widespread, not to say that many may have their own particularly Arab preference in music. However to say they do not like each other...is not true. Most families are of Arab/Berber descent, and the ones that are only Arab, well, maybe you met some who don't like Berbers, but to judge from all the Moroccan musicians who travel in the states to perform, most of them perform traditionally-based music. Morocco is quite a tolerant country, both of its Arab/Berber heritage and its Jewish minority.

Hi, I got my 2009 numbers from the CIA World Fact Book, as well as from the State Dept. which are usually pretty accurate. Keep in mind that all of North Africa was uninhabited by Arabs until around the eighth century, and that Morocco was all Berber (Amazigh) until Arabs colonized them. So it makes sense that most Moroccans would be part Berber. Not all like to admit it. :)

Barbara I think we are just stating two different things. The number I stated was a mixture. As for the Moroccans who claim only Berber parentage, they are still in the majority in Morocco, as you say and would be closer to 60 or 70 percent. Thanks for the discussion.