Thread: What would music would you like to see other dancers perform to?

Inspired by the "if you could have one song retired from bders" thread. A lot of overdone songs were mentioned and it made me think "is there any music or style that is really not done enough?" What do you love to see other dancers do and wish they would do more often?

I'll start. I really like current Turkish popular music. I don't mean like Simarik by Tarkan because that is waaaaay overdone and kinda outdated. This list has been a good source for me to find whats currently popular.

Radyo İstanbul FM Müzik - Müzik dünyasının kalbi bu sitede

I would like to see how other modern dancers (do not mean style - just mean "from today") interpret golden age music like that "Golden Age of Bellydance I and II" CDs that HMC released. I hear the music and can't imagine what the dancing would be like.

I'd like to see a dancer perform to Nebtidi el Minin Hikaya because I'm obsessed with that song right now. But I'm sure I could look up plenty of Youtube!

I would like to see someone dance to Sa'ad's "Taxi" - beep beep beep beep beep beep!

I'd like to see certain Farid al-Atrache songs make a comeback in popularity: in particular, Me Alli We Oltelu, Gamil Gamal, and Habena.

I like 9/8's that are NOT Rampi Rampi. In particular, my favorite 9/8 is Hoplada, and I also like Dere.

Mohammed Abdel Wahab's music kind of seems to be out of style these days, but I still always like Cleopatra and El Fen.

I'm sure you can see through my thinly veiled intentions of creating this thread... I'm gonna go check out all these songs now!

Shira I actually was thinking about 9/8s too. I'm just starting to learn about Romani people and their dance. I'm kind of obsessed right now. lol. Any other favorite 9/8s you could recommend?

I would like to see more Egyptian style folkloric dances like Sai'idi and fellahi... but minus the Reda influence.

I have total respect for Reda and his contribution to Egyptian arts, but the ballet influence is so embedded into the folkloric styles these days and I yearn to see something a little more gritty, like there was about 10-15 years ago.

As for music, Musicians of the Nile (which was overdone a few years ago) would make a welcome return in my eyes.

I'd like to see more acknowledgement of the fact that Egypt is not the only country that thinks they had a "Golden Age" in the middle of the 20th Century. When dancers can barely afford a nod to Fairouz and Warda, what does that mean to the great voices of Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, etc.?

Can someone dive into the black hole? The music didn't stop from 1977 (when Abdel Halim died) to 1996 (when Amro Diab released "Nour el ain"). Maybe that wasn't the greatest era of Middle Eastern music, but surely there are a few wonderful songs to be mined out of the lost depths.

How about a demonstration of one of the other styles of Khaleeji dance? If dancers are willing to believe there are nearly infinite variations of debke, why do they think every woman on the Arabian peninsula dances the same way?

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

I would like to see how other modern dancers (do not mean style - just mean "from today") interpret golden age music like that "Golden Age of Bellydance I and II" CDs that HMC released. I hear the music and can't imagine what the dancing would be like.

I'd like to see a dancer perform to Nebtidi el Minin Hikaya because I'm obsessed with that song right now. But I'm sure I could look up plenty of Youtube!

I would like to see someone dance to Sa'ad's "Taxi" - beep beep beep beep beep beep!

Check out this thread for Nebtidi:

Nebtiti minin el Hikiya

Like shira mentioned, I would like to see some of Farid Atraches music being redone for modern dancers. He did some beautiful stuff.

You're in luck! "Me Alli We Oltelu" is paired with "Leila" in "Medley Farid Al Atrash" on the latest BDSS album (so it will probably get more attention, maybe too much! lol). I've been using it in my restaurant sets. I sometimes use Habena, too. And I currently have a little crush on "Ya Habaybi Ya Ghaybin".

Originally Posted by *Shira*

I'd like to see certain Farid al-Atrache songs make a comeback in popularity: in particular, Me Alli We Oltelu, Gamil Gamal, and Habena.

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I'd like to see more acknowledgement of the fact that Egypt is not the only country that thinks they had a "Golden Age" in the middle of the 20th Century. When dancers can barely afford a nod to Fairouz and Warda, what does that mean to the great voices of Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, etc.?

Lebanon plays a big part, even in Egyptian dance. I love dancing Egyptian style to some of my favourites who are infact Lebanese like Fadl Shaker, Wael Kafoury and so on. Many of us dance to re-worked songs by Warda and Sabah. Nightclub singers mostly sing the songs of Warda, Faiza Ahmed and Sabah.. funny really.

Can someone dive into the black hole? The music didn't stop from 1977 (when Abdel Halim died) to 1996 (when Amro Diab released "Nour el ain"). Maybe that wasn't the greatest era of Middle Eastern music, but surely there are a few wonderful songs to be mined out of the lost depths.

big stars.. Warda (Algerian), Faiza Ahmed (Syrian), Sabah (Lebanese), Shadiya (family from Turkey), Hany Shaker, Amr Diab was around in the 80's, Mohammed Mounir, Omar Fathi and so on.

How about a demonstration of one of the other styles of Khaleeji dance? If dancers are willing to believe there are nearly infinite variations of debke, why do they think every woman on the Arabian peninsula dances the same way?

David of Scandanavia teaches various styles of Khaleegy (and is fabulous) and I believe A'isha Azar does too (in the USA).

In the UK, many people are tuning into Iraqi style, and these styles are seperated just as much as the styles from Egypt etc.
There are of course people who never do that with any styles.

I guess these things depend on where you live.. the UK is a small Island in a good position I guess (but generally not for weather!).

Originally Posted by caroline_afifi

I love dancing Egyptian style to some of my favourites who are infact Lebanese like Fadl Shaker, Wael Kafoury and so on.[...]Nightclub singers mostly sing the songs of Warda, Faiza Ahmed and Sabah.. funny really.

There is a very strong regional component to this. When you're not around an ethnic population, and consequently have no access to live music by trained ME musicians, the music you hear dancers using collapses into a very small world consisting mostly of HMC, Hossam Ramzy, and whatever Miles is pimping under his BDSS umbrella (as far as the dancers who even choose ME music when they perform). I've studied in two of the less cosmopolitan parts of the US, and I would guess that more than 75% of the dancers I've known have no idea that Wael Kfoury even sings songs with lyrics. He's the guy who's moaning on "Aahat" on BDSS 2, right? Is he like a studio musician who does a lot of techno or something? Warda only recorded one song, "Batwannes Beek," so who's this Sabah guy? Faiza Ahmed? Never heard of him, either. Is he the guy who sings "Bint el-Sultan"?

big stars.. Warda (Algerian), Faiza Ahmed (Syrian), Sabah (Lebanese), Shadiya (family from Turkey), Hany Shaker, Amr Diab was around in the 80's, Mohammed Mounir, Omar Fathi and so on.

George Wassouf, Samira Said, Ragheb Alama, and Rashed al-Majed are all also more than 25 years into their careers. The fact still remains that almost no one is using their music now, much less what they were doing back then.

However, there is a legitimate problem with finding some of the older music. Not a lot of retailers in the US stock it if it came out before the 1990s, because people here don't want to buy three-decade-old cassettes, and much of it never made a formal transition to the digital age. It can be challenging to locate older greatest-hits collections, much less the individual albums that spawned the singles.

I guess these things depend on where you live

Or maybe it's just this... http://www.bhuz.com/off-topic/56865-...ion-stats.html

And there's also a problem at the other end of the time scale--dancers who treat 1990s "al-jeel" as if it's current music. Amro Diab is almost 50 years old. He's still popular, but he's not exactly the "Voice of Young Egypt" anymore.

emusic.com is actually a great resource for the late 70s-early 90s era artists mentioned above. Just downloaded some George Wassouf the other day. That's also where I discovered Magida al-Roumy for myself, love her!

can we submit alternative choices?

I'd love to see a troupe veil dance to Mercan Dede Ginhava

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

I would like to see how other modern dancers (do not mean style - just mean "from today") interpret golden age music like that "Golden Age of Bellydance I and II" CDs that HMC released.

I'd love to see how modern Egyptian or Turkish dancers would interpret some of the popular not-so-ME more fusiony type music. How about Dina and Evil Night?

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

There is a very strong regional component to this. When you're not around an ethnic population, and consequently have no access to live music by trained ME musicians, the music you hear dancers using collapses into a very small world consisting mostly of HMC, Hossam Ramzy, and whatever Miles is pimping under his BDSS umbrella (as far as the dancers who even choose ME music when they perform).

If reffering to CD music then I think this is perhaps a problem everywhere?

There are many dancers in the UK who prefer to buy the CD's produced in Egypt by dancers. Some of these are great and have really nice pieces of music but they will also get overused eventually. Also, the singing on some of them is not that great.

The choices in music shops or stalls are not great either... 'Arabian Cafe' and other 'Arabian complitations' are for 'world music lovers'.

I've studied in two of the less cosmopolitan parts of the US, and I would guess that more than 75% of the dancers I've known have no idea that Wael Kfoury even sings songs with lyrics. He's the guy who's moaning on "Aahat" on BDSS 2, right? Is he like a studio musician who does a lot of techno or something? Warda only recorded one song, "Batwannes Beek," so who's this Sabah guy? Faiza Ahmed? Never heard of him, either. Is he the guy who sings "Bint el-Sultan"?

Again, a common situation. I reached the point where I never wanted to hear natacha atlas again in my life.
It's up to teachers to do the research and provide the variety.

George Wassouf, Samira Said, Ragheb Alama, and Rashed al-Majed are all also more than 25 years into their careers. The fact still remains that almost no one is using their music now, much less what they were doing back then.

A question, does this music work with vintage American style?

as far as I am aware, there is only a small section of people in the US who dance Egyptian? am I right?? I get that impression.

Also, people often look for instrumentals pieces with lots of action.

However, there is a legitimate problem with finding some of the older music. Not a lot of retailers in the US stock it if it came out before the 1990s, because people here don't want to buy three-decade-old cassettes, and much of it never made a formal transition to the digital age. It can be challenging to locate older greatest-hits collections, much less the individual albums that spawned the singles.

Yes, but with the age of the internet, life in music should become easier. Even for technophobes like me..

And there's also a problem at the other end of the time scale--dancers who treat 1990s "al-jeel" as if it's current music. Amro Diab is almost 50 years old. He's still popular, but he's not exactly the "Voice of Young Egypt" anymore.

It is all a huge learning curve.. if people are willing that is.

Originally Posted by caroline_afifi

A question, does this music work with vintage American style?

as far as I am aware, there is only a small section of people in the US who dance Egyptian? am I right?? I get that impression.

I can't speak for the U.S. but it seems like the majority of non-tribal dancers in my area (DC metro) do Egyptian, or are at least are primarily influenced by it. I'd be interested to see the data - it may contradict my perception entirely.

I have taken many Egyptian style classes and I know my set order and song selection is heavily informed by that, however I tend towards Vintage American style in terms of movement vocabulary and pacing, and my longest term teacher is from that tradition. I've used both George Wassouf and Samira Said songs successfully.

I'm glad for this thread. I've been trying to rediscover my own music collection, because I've been lazily relying on the same performance music for quite some time, and this is reminding me of some old favorites and giving new-to-me options!

To answer the original question, I would love to see live interpretations of music by those Vintage American favorites, like Eddie Kochak and George Abdo. Actually, I'd love to see the old school VA tunes I'm less familiar with too.

What a great thread! Stalking so I can get more music ideas...

Originally Posted by caroline_afifi

If reffering to CD music then I think this is perhaps a problem everywhere?

Yes, probably anywhere but the ME itself.

A question, does this music work with vintage American style?

Of the artists I listed, three of them, George Wassouf, Samira Said, and Ragheb Alama, work on multi-ethnic platforms, frequently singing in styles that are not their native ethnicity, so I don't see why that would be a problem. Isn't this essentially the roots of the "fusion" behind the vintage American style--a performer crossing ethnic lines? In some parts of the US like Detroit, the vintage American style skewed Lebanese, so even if you throw out Samira Said, George Wassouf and Ragheb Alama are still cleared for takeoff.

Rashed al-Majed is Khaleeji, so strictly speaking, he wouldn't be included in the traditional AmCab five-part routine, but again, a lot of multi-style dancers (whether they consider their base style AmCab or Egyptian) dabble in Khaleeji, and I'm asking why nobody ever seems to notice that in the 27 years Rashed's been kicking around in the music industry, he's recorded more than "Mashkalni"? For that matter, how can Mohammed Abdo be the greatest living treasure of Saudi music when the majority of dancers who think they know enough about Khaleeji to teach or perform it couldn't name a single record by him?

as far as I am aware, there is only a small section of people in the US who dance Egyptian? am I right?? I get that impression.

Trick question. I won't estimate what percentage of dancers out there do only tribal or modern fusion, as opposed to dancers who aim for a style with some amount of ethnic grounding (maybe around half?), but of the latter group, there are a lot who call themselves Egyptian style. Just pulling numbers out of the air, I would say maybe 50% of the non-tribals consider themselves Egyptian, another 40% are either intending to do AmCab or fall into that category unintentionally but they are conscious that they're not trying to be purists, and the last 10% are the Turkish and Lebanese purists, with Turkish style taking the lion's share of that segment. I suspect there is also a regional consideration to these numbers. If you live in an area where ethnic groups and large, competing populations of other dancers care about distinctions, picking a style and focusing your effort on achieving it is probably more common. The fly in the ointment is that a lot of dancers who think they are in the pure Egyptian camp have no idea of how much they aren't. (That's probably true with the Turkish and Lebanese dancers, too, but there's still so much confusion about what those styles are actually supposed to look like, it's not as obvious.) There can be an attitude of, "If I'm wearing an Egyptian costume, and I'm dancing to an Egyptian song, that makes me 'pure' Egyptian style," without understanding that the issue can be more complex.

Finding music is a crazy thing. I was tooling around Youtube and ran across this:

"Samir Yazbek - Great Lebanese Oldies"

Sounds great! Who is he? The singer, the bandleader? How old? Gah!

Also, I found some songs by Karem Mahmoud I liked... but the albums of his I've found didn't have those specifics songs. Also Gah!

Samir Yazbek is not hugely known in Egypt..but should be! he is fabulous. Check out the clip which says Samir Yazbeck and Tony Anka.. gorgous music.

I tried to attach it here but something was not right, I can try again later.

Originally Posted by caroline_afifi

Samir Yazbek is not hugely known in Egypt..but should be! he is fabulous. Check out the clip which says Samir Yazbeck and Tony Anka.. gorgous music.

I tried to attach it here but something was not right, I can try again later.

This?

Yes! thanks Norma

I didn't see a bio for Samir Yazbek after skimming a couple of pages of search results, and ar.wikipedia only has a page for a Syrian journalist named Samar Yazbek. According to Bassem Yazbek's official site, his father was named George, so I don't know if the families are related.

As far as finding OOP music like this, you're probably looking at stumbling into some mom-and-pop store and finding it on cassette. There's more information on both singers if you search in Arabic, including additional clips on YouTube.

Samir Yazbek سمير يزبك
Karem Mahmoud كارم محمود‎

Rashid Music has "The Best of Samir Yazbeck"! I'm ordering it tout suite!

Check out this thread for a modern Turkish piece. This is Usta Cirak, it's on Tarkan's newest album that was released this year. So fun!

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I didn't see a bio for Samir Yazbek after skimming a couple of pages of search results, and ar.wikipedia only has a page for a Syrian journalist named Samar Yazbek. According to Bassem Yazbek's official site, his father was named George, so I don't know if the families are related.

As far as finding OOP music like this, you're probably looking at stumbling into some mom-and-pop store and finding it on cassette. There's more information on both singers if you search in Arabic, including additional clips on YouTube.

Samir Yazbek سمير يزبك
Karem Mahmoud كارم محمود‎

I too wondered if he was the father or relative of Bassem and Maya Yazbek.

It is possible they are related, but it's also worth rememerbing that Yazbek is a 'very Lebanese' name (although it sounds Turkish to me).

Thanks for those who have provided more info about him.

Is Rashid music an online store? I would really like a copy of his 'best of' too!

The songs of Warda appear to be very neglected by dancers these days. When people mention Warda for bellydance they are all inclined to think" O yeah, Batwanes Beek!!. However she has some really beautiful songs which are seldom heard these days.
Try "Fi Youm wa Leila" if you are into a more classical style.

Originally Posted by caroline_afifi

It is possible they are related, but it's also worth rememerbing that Yazbek is a 'very Lebanese' name (although it sounds Turkish to me).

There is a place in Lebanon called "Jouret Oum Yazbek," but that doesn't add much to the conversation.

Is Rashid music an online store? I would really like a copy of his 'best of' too!

Yes, and I've found them very responsive and reputable to deal with.

rashid.com/enter.asp
About Rashid Music Sales

Originally Posted by caroline_afifi

It is possible they are related, but it's also worth rememerbing that Yazbek is a 'very Lebanese' name (although it sounds Turkish to me).

Thanks for those who have provided more info about him.

Is Rashid music an online store? I would really like a copy of his 'best of' too!

Araby music, Arabic Music CDs

They have a lot of stuff you don't see elsewhere, but you kind of have to know what you're looking for. It's not all that... "browseable."