Thread: Iraqi wedding

Wondering if anyone had any suggestions for Iraqi weddings. She wants me to start with the zeffah with a shamadan and then do my usual (Turkish) set. Any suggestions about what music to use for the zeffah or costuming (I'll have one costume change).
Thanks.

Chaldean Iraqi or muslim Iraqi? My experience has been mostly with the Chaldeans. They like high energy fast paced dancing. Caberet costume okay. I had good luck with Gawaher by Dr. Sami Farag or anything by the Lebanese composer Setrak. Keep it fast and upbeat. If you want to do cane, pick a fast upbeat debke song vs. Egyptian Saidi.

Thanks! I am assuming that they are actually Iraqi Kurds but I will check.

In that case - try and see if you can dance to something Kurdish for one song or maybe towards the end of your show? Siwan Perwer has some "danceable" songs. can you do a little halay or can someone quickly show you a few basics?
One song that comes to mind I love dancing to and you can remotely get their with Arabian style dancing is Kece Kurdan (Kurdish girl) by much loved Kurdish singer Aynur. (And I've noticed Kurds do not mind if you dance to it in an "Arabized" way - maybe because Kurds themselves are so heavily influenced by Arabic, Persian, Turkish cultures due to their being stateless/occupied.)
Here:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

She's Turkish, but Iraqi Kurds just adore her - she's kind of an ethnic hero because she started singing Kurdish in Turkey and promoting her ethnic heritage when it still was kind of a risk to take, commercially and politically.

I know very little Kurdish - but the song is about a strong girl defying the limitations on being a girl in part of the song. Ethnically proud, but not bowing to traditional limitations. It supposedly is a "proud female", slightly bold (but in a good way) song. I can ask for more direct translation if you want :)

It's really best to discuss what kinds of music and singers the customers like if you can. There are a lot of great Iraqi singers out there, but how are you going to know whether they'll be thrilled, bored, or insulted with Kazem al-Saher and Majid al-Mohandes if you don't ask? The song "Mujarad Kalam" by Riad Ahmad is an Iraqi classic, and there are a number of covers of it on the market (the rest of Hussein Ghazal's latest album is pretty good, too), but without asking them, I wouldn't hazard a guess as to how they'd react.

Also to be sure about their ethnicity would be really necessary - Iraq's beautiful diversity has in recent times translated to you know what tense situation. If they are Kurds and hire a bellydancer that must mean they embrace their Arab culture, still including one song of their own ethnicity may cause you to win their hearts.
But really be sure in the case of Iraq more than with any other country what ethnicity your audience is.

Agree with what´s already written here by Tourbeau,dinavienna and norma!

I´ve been so lucky to live here up north and still get to know some of Iraqs rich culture:
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqis_in_Sweden"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqis_in_Sweden[/ame]

The most important thing I learned is to not assume anything and instead ask.

BTW:I have a very interesting wedding gig coming up;the groom is kurdish from Turkey and the bride is from Hormozghan in Iran-
they had to pick their favorite songs and styles and settled for egyptian:D

It may turn out that they'd simply prefer singers who weren't Iraqi, too. If they're really big fans of, say, Abdel Halim or Fadl Shaker, neither of them is Iraqi and that has nothing to do with whether the party guests are Kurdish or Chaldean. For as often as it comes up, it's surprising that more dancers haven't trained themselves to automatically ask, "Can you give me an example of the music you'd like me to use? Are there any particular songs or singers you want?" when they get the booking call. I think dancers are afraid of sounding unqualified and ignorant by asking, but it's standard practice for DJs and cover bands to request that kind of information. It shows you're interested in making the customers happy and you have the repertoire to be flexible.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

For as often as it comes up, it's surprising that more dancers haven't trained themselves to automatically ask, "Can you give me an example of the music you'd like me to use? Are there any particular songs or singers you want?" when they get the booking call. I think dancers are afraid of sounding unqualified and ignorant by asking, but it's standard practice for DJs and cover bands to request that kind of information. It shows you're interested in making the customers happy and you have the repertoire to be flexible.

WORD Tourbeau.

Once at a egyptian-coptic wedding the orchestra was overwhelmed with requests of different lebanese songs-didn´t hear one egyptian song all night.

Originally Posted by emma-bessa

WORD Tourbeau.

Double WORD. I think you can get across the idea that you understand different ME music and culture, while still asking the client what they would prefer.

Whenever I'm booked for an event and told the the guests will be primarily from another culture, I usually say something like, "If you like, I can incorporate a [insert nationality] song or two into my set. Is that something that you're interested in, or would you prefer that I stick to my usual set, which is primarily Egyptian?" If they say they'd like me to do it, I'll be honest on about my level of familiarity with that country's music. In the case of Iraqi music (which I admittedly have little familiarity with), I would say, "I don't have a lot of experience using Iraqi music, but I can do some research (translation: got to Bhuz and email my teacher) and come up with at least a song or two that would fit into my set. I'll let you know what I come up with, and you can let me know if you think they'll work for your event. Of course, if there are any specific songs you would like me to incorporate, if you give me the title and artist I will do my very best to track it down."

Sorry if I can´t get off my soapbox now...but many audiences really enjoy a classic "Amcab" set with veil,taxim,zils and sword which most dancers here in Europe doesn´t do because we are so "Cairo-centric".

A kurdish audience here in my small town thought that a tribal group that danced to a kurdish song were the best entertainers they´ve ever seen.

So do your thing while being flexible and ask about special requests:)

I have a feeling there is a rather stark divide between people who are into raks sharki (not necessarily people performing it, but people who love seeing it, often middle to older generation with fond memories of old movies, and with a pride in it from older times) and people who are somewhat more indifferent.
The people who dearly love it from older times have a much harder time accepting tribal, no matter what age they are. A friend of mine, originally from Iran but Bahraini by "upbringing", f.e. has a particularly strong dislike for all tribal and American styles, and he is much younger than I am :) (so it's not only the oldies.. LOL)

On the other hand I can perfectly imagine older generation people with less strong a liking for the authentic raks sharki to enjoy a good show and be totally open minded for new stuff.

This does not mean to me the former ones are close minded -if you love something dearly you do not want it mutilated, which is how many feel. of course it is a cool thing in itself if people preserve an open mind and appreciate new things for their own sake. I had to learn that over years for tribal to be honest - and am only about half way there :) so kudos to those open minded Kurds ;)

Always always always choose a few contemporary songs! I find when I do an older song ppl are like "Ok that's nice" but then when the Nancy Ajram or Ihab Tawfik comes on they go nuts and really start dancing with me (even though some of those songs are like 6 years old or more -- but less than 20...). Dancing to contemporary recognizable hits *really* makes a difference in the overall experience. Make sure your music is current and you will have a fun party on your hands!

Good advice from Tourbeau too - I always ask "Are there any singers or songs you really like that I should dance to?" Often the weddings I dance at have a male singer, so therefore I'll put a few songs by female singers in my shows because even though the singers might cover them, they don't have a woman singer at the wedding. So you might also want to ask what the other entertainment will be like.

Not really able to help but Ive been to 2 Iraqi weddings and they were awesome fun!! The wedding family made these veil things with danglys and gave them to people to wave around when the bride and groom came through.

The Iraqi debke involves nearly the whole of the guests holding hands and moving throughout the reception. Heaps of shoulder movement up and down.

Kathem is a popular Iraqi singer. But I agree with the others and ask them what music they might like to have.

Good Luck!

Iraqi wedding sure can be a blast!

However - I do not recommend picking a Kathem el Saher song - a lot of his songs are political - and he falls into a more high art category that isn't really ideal for a belly dance wedding show.

This song is really popular here with Iraqis.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLr9ryQggFc]YouTube - arabik video clip_portoqala[/ame]

Portoqala means "orange"- when he twists his hand in the air he's "picking oranges". I would speed it up a tiny bit in a music editing program, though. Watch the video for some Iraqi hair tossing. The move at 4:07 is based on an old knife dance move.

Kazem does record lighter music, but you really have to know what you're doing with his songs. Some of his love songs are allegories that might not be interpreted the same way by you from reading the translation that they would be by Iraqis who see the song as meaning different things on more than one level.