Thread: Looking for AMARIAN

does anybody have a digital copy - it is on a Bellyrobics tape by Dr. Samy Farag?

Did you mean AMARAIN? Because maybe that tiny misspelling might have hindered your search?

Oh thanks, that's a possibility, thanks. Sammy did email me from Egypt today with it spelled the other way, but perhaps he made a mistake.

Amarain should be widely available through all the usual channels -- itunes, e-music, and Amazon. there are several versions, though, I'm not too sure about the Samy Farag version, but his music was some of the earliest available by mp3 on Amazon, so I'd bet it's on there.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Amarain should be widely available through all the usual channels -- itunes, e-music, and Amazon. there are several versions, though, I'm not too sure about the Samy Farag version, but his music was some of the earliest available by mp3 on Amazon, so I'd bet it's on there.

Just a caution... there's more than one song titled "Amarain". I think most of us think of the song by Amr Diab by that title, but there was an earlier song titled "Amarain" that was entirely different that was recorded by Hassan el Esmar, a shaabi artist. I have translations of both Amr Diab's "Amarain" and Hassan el Esmar's on my web site.

Although I have that dreadful old Bellyrobics VHS tape, I don't explicitly remember a song called Amarain (or Amarian) on it. I do know that this tape came out in the 1980's, and Amr Diab didn't release his song titled "Amarain" until the late 1990's, so these might be different songs despite having similar titles.

Interesting. I didn't know that Dr. Samy Farag came out with a bellyrobics tape in the 80's. I knew about his performance tape with Suhaila and Shadiah.

I vaguely remember a song by that name. I have a tune floating in my head but I don't know if it's the same one.

Can anyone post a clip? Convert the VHS to DVD?

Originally Posted by norma

Interesting. I didn't know that Dr. Samy Farag came out with a bellyrobics tape in the 80's.

Can anyone post a clip? Convert the VHS to DVD?

Okay, you made me crawl out of my cave. Here are my comments on this video:

• Warning: Once something has been seen, it cannot be un-seen.
• Warning: Be careful what you ask for. You might get it.
• Anne Soffee gave this video all it deserved when she mocked it in her book Snake Hips.
• There's a reason Dr. Farag has never re-released this thing on DVD, despite the fact that he produced it and it features his music.
• If you think Veena and Neena are perky, well, this video takes perkiness to a new level that the Bellytwins could never in their wildest dreams hope to achieve.
• When I commented to A Certain Well-Known Dancer that I had seen her in this video, she looked embarrassed and said that this project taught her that she will never again sign a contract to appear in a video that lacks a clause giving her artistic control over the result. (In fairness to this dancer, she personally was fine in this video. But she was a victim of stupid editing decisions by techies, bad camera work, and generally bad-decision-making on what this video should be like.)

But this discussion of this video is making me think I should excerpt a bit of it to show in future video parties. It *does* have a certain recreational value....

That bad huh?

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Just a caution... there's more than one song titled "Amarain". I think most of us think of the song by Amr Diab by that title, but there was an earlier song titled "Amarain" that was entirely different that was recorded by Hassan el Esmar, a shaabi artist. I have translations of both Amr Diab's "Amarain" and Hassan el Esmar's on my web site.

Oh, I didn't realize that. Thanks, Shira.

The song I am actually looking for is music from a old instructional video by Suzanna DelVecchio in 1988, youtube as shown below:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJwtpQdshf8]YouTube - Belly dancing Technique.flv Suzanna Del Vecchio, BellyRobics, Music Dr Samy Farag[/ame]
Althught it credits Sammy Farag, the title was something different. Thanks, I was at Raks East til very late last night and just getting to this now.

Ooooh, someone tell me how to get/make a skirt like Suzanna is wearing there!

ETA: Or is it just a split circle, with the back ends tucked in front? I need glasses!

Oh, and there were no lyrics to that music. I always get a chuckle when I look back at old video, but it is just the music I am seeking here....any help would be appreciated :)

Might this be it?


Tatika's: Rakasni Ya Habibi - Dr. Samy Farag

On Ebay: Search for

Rakasni Ya Habibi - Dr. Samy Farag


Link didn't work, but it's there.

I have the CD and can confirm the song you're looking for is definitely on the album Raksani Ya Habibi.

Originally Posted by jahbie

Might this be it?


Tatika's: Rakasni Ya Habibi - Dr. Samy Farag

Oh, I sure hope so...I couldn't listen but will find out when it arrives. Thank you.

Bhuzzers are the best :)

I LUV that youtube with Suzanna. The music, the costumes, the style: it takes me back to my baby belly days. Except the big hair; I never did big hair...

(disclaimer: I have naturally curly, frizzy when it's humid or I sweat hair so it's frequently 'big'. I've never teased it up-does that make more sense?)

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Ooooh, someone tell me how to get/make a skirt like Suzanna is wearing there!

ETA: Or is it just a split circle, with the back ends tucked in front? I need glasses!

Actually I think it's a classic 3/4 circle skirt with the tront and the back ends sewed together.

I do recognize the music as something I used to practice too (I'm sure I have it on cassette somewhere, but it's not the song I was originally thinking of.)

I find this video facscinating to see so much choreo back in the late 80's. That was my heyday and in Detroit it was strictly follow the dancing butt method as we learned from 1st generation dancers.

Success, thank you Jahbie! It was a sentimental journey. Now Samy will be happy that he doesn't need to convert it for me as he couldn't find it except on tape. I'm not sure, but he may have been mistaken about bellyrobics, but it was definitely the same era. Thanks everybody.

[
Glad to help. But you know I'm sure that at the end of that video clip it says the music is called "Inshallah". Are they one and the same?


QUOTE=LizzyDancer;532307]Success, thank you Jahbie! It was a sentimental journey. Now Samy will be happy that he doesn't need to convert it for me as he couldn't find it except on tape. I'm not sure, but he may have been mistaken about bellyrobics, but it was definitely the same era. Thanks everybody.[/QUOTE]

I don't know - I saw that also, and that had us puzzled as it was definitely Amarain playing. Suzanna couldn't remember, but Samy told me the name. 7.20 minutes is way too long...which editing software do you use?

Originally Posted by jahbie

[
Glad to help. But you know I'm sure that at the end of that video clip it says the music is called "Inshallah". Are they one and the same?

Since I have this video, I can tell you that Inshallah is the title of a different segment of the video, not Suzanna's segment. I don't know why they would have said the song Suzanna used was Inshallah - maybe the person who extracted that clip from the video made some editing mistakes?

Anyway, that video has a truly dreadful line dance segment to this song it says is "Inshallah". It is introduced saying you could do what you want, or you could follow them. There is absolutely nothing said about which region the dance steps are from, and no attempt made to teach the steps before beginning the up-to-speed dance. As they do the dance, there is nobody narrating to say which step to do next. With my background as a folk dancer, I cringe at the presentation. About half the time, the camera remains annoyingly focused on people's heads and upper bodies, without showing their feet. This is idiotic for a dance that is based primarily on various footwork combinations. There is no clear leader/instructor. Some of the participants obviously didn't know much about folk dancing, and it shows in their footwork. At one point, a dancer near one end takes hold of the hands of the people on either side of her, and eventually everyone else in the line notices and jockeys into position to do the same. When one person on the other end decides to raise her arms, once again everyone seems to catch on slowly.

The book Snake Hips makes a reference to this line dance. It seems that one of the local teachers learned this dance from the video, taught it to her troupe, and performed it. Eek! I don't think I could keep a straight face if I ever see that!

Shira, just to clarify, is the YouTube clip in post #10 from the video you describe in post #7?

Originally Posted by Zana

Shira, just to clarify, is the YouTube clip in post #10 from the video you describe in post #7?

Hi Zana! Yes, the clip of Suzanna does appear in the video that I described in post 7. In fairness to Suzanna, I think she personally did a good job considering the constraints she was working with, although I really didn't like the camera work and editing in her segment. But I don't blame her for bad camera work, because I know she didn't control that aspect of the segment.

This video contains the following segments:

1. The 11-minute warmup segment is patterned after the warmups that used to appear in 1980's-style aerobic workouts, complete with the shiny leotard, led by a former Miss Oklahoma named Debbie Parks, who is the personification of perkiness. Her perkiness makes Veena and Neena look subdued in comparison. There is NOTHING belly dance-ish about that workout - it's straight 1980's aerobics class. Stuff like lunges, push-ups, etc.
2. Stomach and leg work. 8 minutes. Again, we're talking gym exercises, not belly dance, led by Perky Debbie. It's mat work, with leg lifts, crunches, etc.
3. At last! A belly dancing section, led by Sadia Orvis. Length is 15 minutes. This is basically a drills section, with hip isolations and rib cage isolations. I liked this part, except that the camera work was really annoying - stuff like showing close-ups of smiling faces when the instructor is introducing a hip move. So although Sadia herself was a good instructor and led a good drill session, the segment suffered from bad camera work. I'm sure it wasn't her fault. One of the backup dancers that's following Sadia is Sohaila from San Diego. In watching this section, you can easily tell which people are "real" belly dancers versus which ones came from the aerobics camp.
4. Uh oh, the cardio segment of the video, featuring the return of Perky Debbie and her shiny leotard. This one is 6 1/2 minutes of assorted 1980's-aerobics-class high-impact leaping about with kicks, punching the first forward, etc. Not a shimmy in sight.
5. Next is that awful line dance segment I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, to that song Inshallah. Chaos ensues. There is no clear leader/instructor, and all the participants look as though they really have no idea what step to do next. It's the worst part of the video. Mercifully, it's only 3 minutes long.
6. Perky Debbie and her shiny leotard lead a cool-down using the same sorts of 1980's gym exercises as what she used in the warmup. About 4 minutes long.
7. And, at the end, Suzanna Del Vecchio teaches her routine, which is the segment shown in the youtube video clip on this thread. As with Sadia Orvis' section, I think Suzanna herself does okay, but once again we have poor camera work that often makes it difficult to discern just what the dancers are doing.

(continued; my mini-review was too long to fit in one message)




It's been about 5 years since I last watched this thing. The above comments are from the notes I wrote at the time I last watched it. If I recall correctly, Sadia and Suzanna appear ONLY in the sections that they teach, not in the other sections. The worst part of the video is that Inshallah song with the line dance that nobody in the line seems to know. The parts led by Debbie Parks will give you perkiness poisoning as well as make you wonder what those gym exercise segments are doing in a video that is claiming to offer you a belly dance workout.

Just remembered, I did post a review of this on my web site: BellyRobics: A Video Review By Shira

I'm fascinated to see that 4 of the people who voted in the opinion poll rated it "Absolutely Fantastic". Always interesting to see when people disagree with me so strongly!

I use the free version of Audacity, it's quite easy to alter the length of a song with it.

Originally Posted by LizzyDancer

I don't know - I saw that also, and that had us puzzled as it was definitely Amarain playing. Suzanna couldn't remember, but Samy told me the name. 7.20 minutes is way too long...which editing software do you use?