Thread: Dani Boutrous and Tales of the Sahara

I always thought this was a fairly modern song. I first became aware of it with BDSS Leila Gamal. Not really, as I've had this video since the 1990's, but I never connected the two until today. I recently taught this music in my beginner class. I was in the process of transferring some old VHS tapes to DVD and discarding many shows when I came upon this gem:

Awesome! Wasn't it composed for her? Or some other Lebanese artist?

What happened to her? I have read only that she had a tragic life, but no details.

It was composed for her. I'd heard that she died in a car accident.

BTW, there is an awesome version of this song out there - closer to the original than the Jalilah version. It's on one of the VOS CD's - I believe it's "Belly Dance with Rindala" - hard to find, but totally worth it.

I actually heard she committed suicide back in the late 1990's. One of my friends was dancing overseas then and that is what she told me. But I don't really know.

My friend Katya Faris danced to a great version of the song.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY6M-n24_S8]YouTube - Tales of the Sahara, Lebanese Raqs Sharqi[/ame]

Yes, it is also on Belly Dance with Randala, Track 1, Raksat Danny Bstors, by VOS.

Thank you Norma-
you have a lot of rare and lovely clips on your YouTube channel:)


Everytime while in Lebanon me and the other swedes have been meeting Setrak and Amani,
both for workshops and just hanging out,so I´ve been inquiring about the past/present music/dance scene a lot...

I never asked exactly what happened as it´s tragic to talk about,
but I think it came up one time that her son died shortly before she too passed away.

Whatever happened, she had a tragic life for one so young.

My hairdresser told me that she died in a car accident

That's a lovely clip Norma, thanks for posting it.

Yes, that piece was composed for her theater show, she committed suicide in 1998, shot herself in the head after her son drown in their pool. It's very sad, here is the article
Death in Beirut,<br> Dani Bustrus, <br> A dancer who lived for her art || News || CGGL.org

Thanks for the article. At Christmas time -that makes sense. So sad.

Thank you for the article Aradia!
How very,very sad;Nadia Gamal also left this life too early.

Was she Lebanese of Greek heritage?
I LOVE this clip, best dancing I have ever seen to the song. Thank you SO SO much Norma!
How sad..

so who has the rights to this then, cause whenever i've posted a clip on youtube using the jalilah or BDSS version, i've gotten a warning of youtube, copy right infringement. and i think it was through the company that produced the jalilha cds, that youtube had a conflict with

Browsing youtube and saw that the CaroVan has posted some Dani Boutrous.

There are a lot more on CaroVan's channel,

Thanks for the clips! I only saw one video with Dani and I absolutely love her. My favorite Lebanese dancer by far. It's so sad she's no longer with us....