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How to find Belly Dance music, an insider’s guide
Students often come up to me after a belly dance class and ask what music I was playing and if I can recommend any CDs they should buy. It is a tricky process, finding Arabic music that suits you, especially from scratch, but after 11 years in the business I can tell you how to do it.
When I asked a DJ friend how he built up his collection he said “you buy a lot of rubbish, and then you find maybe one good track. Then you look up stuff by that artist and the journey begins”. This process is a lot easier these days with the internet at our fingertips. On iTunes you can simply type in the name of an artist, say Egyptian superstar Amr Diab, and a whole list of other artists are recommended too.
The old fashioned way
Another way, the way I used to look for music pre-iTunes, is to go to HMV or another large record store and find the world music section. Pick up few CDs that look like they relate to belly dancing or Arabic music (i.e. have camels on the cover) and get the shop assistant to put them on for you at the listening post – if these still exist. If they don’t you can try amazon.com where there are often track listings that you can listen to.
Compilation complication
In recent years lots of belly dance compilation CDs have been released, some of these are good, but often the sound is quite loungey, Buddha Bar style, and is too slow or too electronic. Or you get the other extreme where the music is taken from very old crackly records and is too traditional to use in modern venues.
At belly dance festivals such as Fantasia and Raqs Britannia there are stalls selling CDs. Often you can listen to them and select the ones you want. The Bellydance Superstars compilation CDs are a very good starting point. They have a selection of classic belly dance music and some nice fusion tracks too. However, they are widely known and used, and if you are like me and looking for something original that expresses your personality, you are going to need to delve deeper.
Who to look out for
Again you can note the names of the artists and look them up on iTunes. The main artist I would start with is Nancy Ajram, Lebanese queen of Arabic pop music. (Because of the Arabic translation her name is often spelled differently, so try Nancy Aagram too). Almost all of her tracks are catchy, upbeat and easy to belly dance to.
If you are looking for a more traditional sound with introductions and taqsims (instrumental improvisations) have a listen to Warda. Although her songs are longer they are compelling and go through many rhythm changes and variations.
Hakim is the king of Sha’abi, more of an urban pop form; his music is based on the baladi and maqsoum rhythms, so it is traditional in feel, but is often very fast with a lot of vocal effects. It has echoes of Algerian Rai, which you may also want to check out in the form of Khaled, some of his music is very hypnotic and some more poppy and can be great to belly dance to or listen to.
A good excuse to go on holiday…
Another, less virtual way of shopping for belly dance music is in CD shops when you are on holiday. CDs in Morocco, Egypt and Turkey are often only £4 each, or less, so you can afford to take a risk and buy a stack of them. Usually the shopkeepers are very happy to let you listen to the tracks, I know the CD shop in the Khan El Khalili Souk (market) in Cairo has all the tracks stored as MP3s on their computer, so it’s easy to select and listen.
In other shops in the Middle East the CDs may be copies, or burned compilations, although the sound quality can be poor and the names of the tracks unknown, I’ve found some gems on these copies also. (That’s why there is no official music chart in the Middle East, because so many of the CDs sold are burnt copies, and not originals)
…Or stay at home
Because London is such a diverse city, there are also specialist shops in Arab and Turkish areas of London. For example Green Lanes in North London has two great Turkish music shops and there are CD shops selling Arabic music on Edgware road.
Lastly if you want to be updated of the latest Arabic CD releases sign up to the newsletter at www.maqam.com Although this is an American website, the prices of the CDs are low for us, and you can listen online. They even have an alphabetical list of Arabian artists that you can work your way through.
The test of a true aficionado
If you follow my advice, you may find yourself sitting in a restaurant in Edgware Road guessing the name of a track from the first few seconds, then you will be a true maestro of belly dance music. (However, if you don’t recognise the track, authentic anoraks, such as yours truly, will always ask the waiter the write it down).
If you have any other ideas, or stories of how you found your belly dance music we would love to hear from you. Good hunting.
Mia
Director
www.miaserra.com
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