Thread: Talk to me about Muwashahat!

What is Muwashahat music? What characterizes it? How is it different from other Arabic music? What famous "belly dance" songs are actually muwashahat? What are some must-know muwashahat songs? Can you link me some of your favorite examples of muwashahat music?

Is there a traditional dance or traditional dances that are done to this type of music? What do they look like? Are they belly dance, or like belly dance? Can you show me some examples? Is it okay to belly dance to this type of music?


I found this link from Farida Fahmy which is very informative: Farida Fahmy's Article on Muwashahat

However, it's hard for me to really understand what they are talking about without hearing examples of the music, and it's hard to picture the dance without seeing it. I want to really understand what this is, but without knowing some of the basic things about it I don't have enough judgement to discern what is real, what is fake, and what is misleading on youtube and the internet at large.

So, I turn to all you knowledgeable Bhuzzers for all the help I can get!

As I understand it there are no traditional dances. As per Farida's article it is a reconstructed style. The only person I've done classes with who was likely to know what it was about was Aida Nour. I cannot remember what the music was for her first workshop but the second was to the theme song to an Egyptian soap opera! In both cases there was a mix of line length - 6, 8, 10; with blocks of repeats. She implied it followed the form of muwashahat poetry. The dance was very refined - little or no hips other than accents with lots of turns, arabesques etc.

Could I spot a suitable piece of music myself? Nope.

I can't write a ton right now (baby's just down for a quick nap), but here are some links to Reda's choreographies. As you read on Farida Fahmy's page, he created the style of dance to fit the music which had been created to fit the poetry of the Andalus. It is beautiful music, and the movements are very fluid and gentle. Mohammed Shahin has an instructional dvd with a Muwashahat choreography. I learned it at one of his workshops and performed it for Mahmoud Reda, himself! I don't know what he thought of my presentation, but at least he didn't get up and leave.

One well known song is Lamma Bada Yatathana


Reda's




Nesma - does mostly Andalus, and Reda likes her presentation a lot.

Also, here's a discussion from a while ago about appropriate costuming in other bhuzzers' opinions.

costume for mouashahat

I'm not sure anyone has completely illuminated this aspect of classical music, but various facets of it have come up in other threads.

Anala started this one: Al Andalus
This one was mine: Al-qudud Aleppo

Sophia linked this article in my thread http://www.afropop.org/explore/style...usian%20music/. Be sure to follow the links through to the two-part interview with Dwight Reynolds.

There are some song titles and a few audio links here: Untitled 2

Maqam World has definitions here: Arabic Musical Forms

I'm not entirely sure how these pieces fit together. I think where we left it was that al-qudud Aleppo is the last active branch on the tree, whereas the Andalus/muwashat are preserved as a historical discipline?

Here is the link to Mohamed's DVD. In case you wanted to dig into that: Mohamed Shahin Native Egyptian Master Instructor, Performer & Choreographer

I really like Sama'i Bayyati.

There are a couple of translations on my web site of muwashahat:

• Arabic Music: English Translation of Lyrics for El Bulbul by Sabah Fakhri
• Arabic Music: English Translation of Lyrics for Lamma Bada Yata Thanna
• Arabic Music: English Translation of Lyrics for Billadhi Askara, a Traditional Arab Mwashaha

This is a review on my web site of a book that has sheet music for some: Book Review: Arabic Music and Songbook, by Joseph Fakhouri (so you can see song titles)

There's a section for muwashahat on this "shopping" link on my site: Music Store: Classical Music Artists from Egypt & Lebanon

The legendary Lebanese singer Feiruz recorded some muwashahat.

Ranya Renee has done some Muwashahat choreography and (as is usual) a wonderful source of info about the music and dance. You may want to contact her and see if she's posted any videos lately.

When i was at Camparet in Texas last year, Ranya did a day long workshop using this musical form. I did a little research on it because I fell in love with the music and the very lyrical style of the dance. My take away from a very brief study is that the form (reconstructed) has a lot in common with classical Persian dance due to the influence of artists imported from there during the flowering of Ottoman culture in southern Spain.

Thank you guys for the info, links, and resources. I will be checking into all of them over the next few weeks.
Keep 'em coming!