Thread: Help! Need Greek belly dance music!

I desperately need some good Greek music to belly dance to. I'd prefer instrumental but it doesn't have to be. I went on greekmusic.com and I'm overwhelmed as I don't read Greek and I can't hear any clips to know if it's what I'm looking for. I'm just picking blindly.

I started to pick out 3, but it's getting darn expensive so I'm hoping someone can tell me if these songs are good for belly dancing or can they recommend something better.

Greek Mania Vol 3 - Club Remix -look under mix/remix
Ta Zimiarika - Bournelis -under instrumental
Nihtes Magikes-under tsifitelia/belly dance

I want to structure a Greek style belly dance routine with a fast opening and closing. Then a chiftitelli in the middle. It's the music for the opening and closing that I'm having a hard time finding good songs. Most of the CD's I have are good for line dancing but not belly dancing.

A 9/8 could be good for your closing, maybe something like Marinella if you can find a good version.

latriamou would know :D

I'm hoping Maria Aya will chime in as well. I need specific name of CD's to buy.
To give you an idea of the type of song I'm looking for, on the Katia CD there are 2 songs that I like but I don't like the Katia version.
The songs are: O Salonikyos and Oki, Oki. O Salonikyos cuts off abruptly so I can't use that. Oki, Oki, is usuable.

If someone could even point me to other versions of those songs that would be a great help. But I'd like more of a selection.

Norma, your thread inspired me to splurge at greekmusic.com and I blame you for it!

Originally Posted by kamilia

Norma, your thread inspired me to splurge at greekmusic.com and I blame you for it!

LOLOL

ok my first question is, are you looking for something traditional or modern>
club remixes are going to be just that- club remixes

i think what you want are compilations but those that say
tsiftetelia or kolasi
i dont like the katia cd much so i can't comment on things that would be comparable to songs there..

It's so hard to explain what I want. I want songs like O Salinkos or Oki Oki. The type of rhythm where you can come out with a bang and spin and shimmy fast But I want a large band sound. More modern I guess. Most of the so called "Greek Belly Dance" music is too slow and not rich enough.

Sorry Kamilia! It's easy to do I know. What did you get.

a lot of the times the music is all grouped together as greek bellydance when in fact it could be a zembekiko type rhythm or just a love song!
i have a few artists whose sound i really like: anna vissi, stamatis gonidis, angela demetriou, ploutarxos, terzis...
they have some club type pieces but they also have some big band songs as well. they should have some clips for you to listen to from their cds.

also you guys are making me want to buy some music instead of waiting to get it from my cousins.
the only issue with that is i never know the names of anything, i just get a CD that they got from the dj or in some cases my cousin is the dj
the worst was when it was burned as one long one hour track!

I can't download any clips from greekmusic.com. Only a few CD's even have clips available. It sure would help if I could listen to clips.

Do any of you remember Jimmy Linardos? I'm looking for that type of sound. It doesn't have to be in a routine format, but just that sound and style that we call "American Greek". Someone on tribe mentioned Conchi that was recorded by a Ohio Greek band.

if he is from the 70s or 80s i am useless.

Jimmy Linardos! That's the guy I wanted to allude to here, but I couldn't remember his name. There is no more music like that, I swear!

I'll find the list of what I bought somewhere...

aloha!

pe-ko hollywood music has some great greek bd cds! check em out!

That could be a slow-coming and crackling solution, but I find that Radio Bastet is a great source for old-school music, including tunes that sound Greek to me. (And, no, that's not a pun.)

Now if only I could recommend a place that sells Gus Vali CDs.

now gus vali i have! lol for the life of me i can't remember where i got the cds from.... perhaps it was from greekmusic.com but before they revamped the website...

Originally Posted by kamilia

Jimmy Linardos! That's the guy I wanted to allude to here, but I couldn't remember his name. There is no more music like that, I swear!

I'll find the list of what I bought somewhere...

That's the problem. I want something like Jimmy Linardos and it just doesn't exist anymore. If an American Greek band was smart, they'd put a CD together!

I used to have some Gus Vali cassettes but I can't recall if I liked them or not.

Yeah, I'm having real problems with the greekmusic.com site. Everytime I have to log in I have to sign a security certificate and real player won't let me play any of the clips, what few they have.

The Levendes--The finest in Greek & American Entertainment

By the way, if any of you are looking for a different version of Ta Mavra Matia Sou, the Levendes have a great one.

apollonia is a great band in the maryland area
also i think animus from philadelphia has some greek things in their repetoire

Okay I googled Themi Kakias. Some on tribe told me his band did the Conchi CD.

Greek Tycoons :: OnLine Shopping Page

Check out the cd clips 10-12 for Tsfitelia. That is exactly the type of song I'm looking for. I ordered that CD and will also get the Conchi CD as apparently that is the same band.

LOL! Finally got around to checking out Radio Bastet! Some great stuff on there!

Anyway, for those of you who are too young to remember Jimmy Linardos, there is a full routine on Program 9. It starts around 30:00. This is the type of music that we used to dance to at the Greek nightclubs in Detroit's Greektown. Those were the days.

Radio Bastet - Vintage Belly Dance Music

"Anyway, for those of you who are too young to remember Jimmy Linardos, there is a full routine on Program 9. It starts around 30:00. This is the type of music that we used to dance to at the Greek nightclubs in Detroit's Greektown. Those were the days."

Fond memories therefrom, Norma...the Bouzouki, the Mykonos, and for a while Never on Sunday. Excellent dancers, too--you and, well, after watching you I tended to lose focus but there were some outstanding ones.

The Bouzouki is still in existence last time I was in that area but it has, shall we say, a different type of show and attracts a different kind of audience. I don't want to offend the delicate sensibilities of my fellow Bhuz readers so I'll just say that professional belly dancers, as we all know, need expensive costumes that require a lot of maintenance. The dancers at the Bouzouki's current incarnation...I don't think they spend a lot of money on the costumes and the costumes don't suffer a lot of wear and tear.

I guess I was raised differently; I have never quite grasped why those places are called "gentlemen's clubs" since I grew up with a different idea of what a gentleman did.

-Alex