Thread: Azez Alaya NOT khaleegi??

So I just finished a lovely performance of "A Tour of Middle Eastern Dances" at our local university-Turkish, Egyptian, Greek, Lebanese and Saudi. After I finished the Khaleegi, a Middle Eastern guy says you danced khaleegi, but that song is not khaleegi.

I am not as familiar with khaleegi as I am with other genres and so was rather horrified to think that I had danced to an inappropriate song. It has the right khaleegi drum rhythm, so curious if anyone knows anything more about this song and why it might not be khaleegi. And now I can't find it on amazon or itunes to put a link. hmmmmm.....

I'm not familiar with the song but I googled it & found lots of youtube clips with the whole song, plus a sample on youtube.

To my ear, it doesn't sound Khaleegy. The rhythm sounds like a variation on a fast Ayoub to me (Dun ka Dun Tek). It doesn't have that heavy galumphing feeling with the double-dum at the beginning that usually screams Khaleegy to me (Dun Dun ka teka is the Khaleegy rhythm I'm most familiar with, though I know there are many others)

But don't be horrified. We all make mistakes. It was nice of him to take the time to point it out to you, and showed some respect (in that he thought you would care, and want to know! If he felt like you were utterly clueless he wouldn't have bothered.)

I once did full-on Saidi to a Debke (not just Assaya, like the Lebanese do, this was heavy-duty Saidi). In a competition. One of my most dedicated & gifted students did a whole Saidi choreo to a Nubian song once.

I think if it doesn't happen to you at least once, then you're not taking the risks necessary to learn and grow as a dancer.

There's some clarifying discussion of the song here Is this appropiate for Khaligi?

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

There's some clarifying discussion of the song here Is this appropiate for Khaligi?

Oh, I remember that thread! So obviously it's not wholly unsuitable for Khaleegy dance, according to many people's opinions. You just happened to get a guy in your audience who heard the difference in dialects.

I saw a presentation of khaleegy men's folk dance by actual Gulf men and one of the songs they played (live) had an ayoub rhythm. So.

That's a good thread!! Wish I had known about it before- I could have at least spoken somewhat intelligently to him about the song!

He was wonderfully nice-very happy to see some Arabic dancers in Small Town Texas! He also said he'd be happy to give me some "appropriate" khaleegi music....which I will happily take him up on. I love to find new music because for me, that's what it's all about. And the sparkles.

There is so much Khaleeji music out there, and with Rotana based in Saudi Arabia, that means there are new albums coming out all of the time. It's a shame more dancers don't cast their nets a bit wider, because it's not difficult to find. Maqam lets you sort by country. The most popular artists will often have their biggest hits translated online at lyrics forums, and their videos will be on YouTube. English Wikipedia even has a few pages that you can find by searching on things like "Saudi Arabian Singers" or "Kuwaiti Singers." I almost posted something in the thread with the video of the dancer using that could-you-make-this-much-less-Khaleeji-if-you-tried? Ragheb Alama remake of the old Abu Baker Salem song "Sir Hobi." Really, it's not that hard to find Khaleeji music in traditional Khaleeji styles by Khaleeji singers, instead of slightly off-the-mark songs. Don't be afraid to explore.

Originally Posted by jamielynn

He also said he'd be happy to give me some "appropriate" khaleegi music....which I will happily take him up on.

FWIW, there's a good chance that if this offer manifests as physical media, it will be in the form of illegal copies or downloads, unless this guy is an importer and he gives you some of his overstock, or he's pruning his personal library. Please use music ethically and support the artists by buying legal copies of what you use, especially if you are introducing this music to students.

Thanks for that reminder Tourbou. I will ask him for the names of the songs and artists rather than the actual music. I am one of those people who does not share music and I always buy the cd, because I do recognize the importance of supporting the artists.

You do want to be careful not to insult this person's generosity. Many natives genuinely seem to believe there isn't anything wrong with sharing music by making copies and passing them around. I agree that the best way for both sides is to present it to him that you really want the information on the exact titles and artists so you can learn more on your own. I don't think it's too grievous to demo a CD if he gives you one, then set it aside and pursue more ethical purchasing options for what you like. I just wouldn't endorse using it for teaching and performing and so on without making a sincere effort to buy those tracks first. Besides, who knows what you'd get? There's no guarantee this music would be something of usable quality or that you'd personally enjoy it anyway. Not everybody has the same taste in music, and poorly edited or digitized tracks aren't suitable for public applications.