Thread: Song suggestion needed!

<Crosses fingers and hopes this won't be one of my thread-killer posts,r:;>

I have a gig coming up that is for a partnership ceremony with a fairly non-mainstream non-ME crowd. I want a song for the end of my (short) set for audience participation, but am struggling with what it could be - I'm steering away from Arabic pop, but still want something with ME flavour.

Suggestions please!

TIA!..g.:

Desert Rose? Maybe to slow and flowy for the end of a set.

Start Wearing Purple? Fairly non-mainstream!

Everyone knows the tune to Tarkan's Simarik t hanks to that Aussie bird.

And of course, you could always get 'em up and tire them out to Zorba!

Aha...great suggestions Freddie, thankyou. I particularly like Start Wearing Purple, but I also think they'll like Kiss Kiss (or whatever it's called) in a cheesy fun sort of a way...

The Middle Eastern talent shows (Superstar, Star Academy) sometimes have the performers singing Western songs with translated Arabic lyrics, and the last album by Jean-Marie Riachi has a bunch of old rat-pack-era standards sung in Arabic. The crowd might get a kick out of hearing a song they recognize with a ME flavor.

Another option would be to close by teaching and doing a short debke with the crowd.

I danced to the Turkish version of "I Will Survive" (Bambaska Biri) at a gay pride festival last year, and the audience LOVED it!

Why do you want to steer away from pop? It's great for getting the audience involved because it's more approachable that traditional Arabic music.

Faris Karam's stuff has a little more folksy feel than most pop but still has great energy and a modern-enough feel that it wouldn't scare people off, I don't think.
Or some dabke music?? They don't necessarily have to know how to dabke - but that's easy to pick up too... *that's* crowd involvement! LOL

Originally Posted by MahinS

Why do you want to steer away from pop? It's great for getting the audience involved because it's more approachable that traditional Arabic music.

Yes, and I'm not ruling it out, but would prefer something people are more familiar (tune, lyrics) with in order to make it easier to get them up to dance.

Thanks for all the other suggestions. Unfortunately my Zorba-ing and debke skills are zilch, so thanks for those suggestions, but probably not going to happen (I have a week to sort this out!)

Can't believe that I am suggesting this as its not something I would chose - Shakira?

Natacha Atlas... I put a spell on you.

I Want to See You Bellydance - Red Elvises

I've used this and the crowd went wild! I think I got at least half of the people there up dancing...g.:

"Mezdeke 6" has two versions of the "Macarena" on emusic.com.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I thought I would post back here to let you know I have decided to go with 'Rock el Casbah' by Rachid Taha.

Originally Posted by laura 2

I danced to the Turkish version of "I Will Survive" (Bambaska Biri) at a gay pride festival last year, and the audience LOVED it!

I danced to an Arabic version at the Pride Festival in DC several years ago. It's a great song!

This was in the Blade paper- with "rainbow" veils from Jes!

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

I danced to an Arabic version at the Pride Festival in DC several years ago. It's a great song!

This was in the Blade paper- with "rainbow" veils from Jes!

Great Picture!!!!!!!

I love Perom Perom to finish with...
and of course Rompi Rompi...
but I dont usually use non-ME or Turkish songs...
even though I know the Macerana one and its cute, that will for sure take their attention and make them dance