Musicality instructional videos

Musicality specific instructional videos are popping up everywhere. I have Ranya Renee's Taqasim DVD and love it!

So, which ones are authentic ethnic musicality and which ones aren't? :think:
Any recommendations?

I do rather like Andalee's Musicality Matters, it's great from an American Oriental perspective and as a good introduction to musicality in general (especially for beginners)

I've found that a lot of the time musicality is covered by improv dvds (not that there are a lot of those either!) rather than as its own separate topic as Ranya Renee & Andalee have done.

To be honest, despite the ever expanding girth of my dvd collection, the above are the entirety of my musicality-covering dvds. I don't think there ARE that many. Nadira Jamal's Improv toolkit covers it as one of the 'tools', and Bahaia's Combin-ography covers it briefly too.

Honestly, I like the George Sawa cd & book set (Egyptian Music Appreciation & Practice for Bellydancers) in terms of coverage although I feel that it would be marvellous if he could follow it up with a dvd with him explaining & playing the music & having different dancers demonstrating what he's talking about. I learned an awful lot from the cd & book set.

I've got Nadira Jamal, Bahaia, and the George Sawa set. I've got tons of resources specifically about the music's structure and culture. I am looking for more DVDs like Ranya's or Outi of Cairo's "Egyptianize Your Dance", that show and explain how an ethnic dancer hears the music and how/why they would choose to interpret it physically.

Karim Nagi has a musicality DVD out and so does Alimah, but I don't know what's on them yet.

Shoot- if the Andalee DVD is American Oriental, it's not what I'm looking for. I started with that style, did it for eight years and am very comfortable with that interpretation already

It's worth getting anyway because it's bundled with the reality show (and that alone makes it awesome).

I hear good things about Mohammed Shahin's dvds.

Don't forget books too -- Scott Marcus's book "Music in Egypt" is excellent, and comes with a companion CD. Also, ANY workshop with Karim Nagi is worth it. And especially don't forget Ranya's Balady dvd.

Saida's DVD goes over different rhythms (explained by a musician) and then she shows different combinations that can be done to each rhythm.
However, it is in Spanish so if you don't understand Spanish that's out of the question...

Aziyade said:

I hear good things about Mohammed Shahin's dvds.

Don't forget books too -- Scott Marcus's book "Music in Egypt" is excellent, and comes with a companion CD. Also, ANY workshop with Karim Nagi is worth it. And especially don't forget Ranya's Balady dvd.

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Can you tell me more about Mohammed Shahin's videos Aziyade?

Yup, I've got the Scott Marcus and all of Ranya's videos- her stuff is wonderful! I absolutely second those recommendations.

Yame said:

Saida's DVD goes over different rhythms (explained by a musician) and then she shows different combinations that can be done to each rhythm.
However, it is in Spanish so if you don't understand Spanish that's out of the question...

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That sounds like it would be interesting. Eek! I haven't taken Spanish since high school. I'd be totally out of my depth. No subtitles? <hopeful voice>

i have both their DVDs and they do have English subtitles.

Yame said:

Saida's DVD goes over different rhythms (explained by a musician) and then she shows different combinations that can be done to each rhythm.
However, it is in Spanish so if you don't understand Spanish that's out of the question...

Click to expand...

I haven't seen any of Mohammed Shahin's dvds, so I can't comment, but I have been TOLD that they are good instruction and although they cover choreography, they also cover musicality and WHY he choreographs the way he does, but beyond that I can't comment.

Keti Sharif also talks about the "what movements to do with what instrument" kind of thing on her 5-part series, but I don't know that it's any more detailed than what we've discussed here. You might check old threads because we've talked about this before at least once that I can remember, and people had some good suggestions for musicality itself (not DVDs, but just ideas.)

Aziyade said:

Keti Sharif also talks about the "what movements to do with what instrument" kind of thing on her 5-part series, but I don't know that it's any more detailed than what we've discussed here. You might check old threads because we've talked about this before at least once that I can remember, and people had some good suggestions for musicality itself (not DVDs, but just ideas.)

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I'm not familiar with the other videos on this thread, so I can't compare Keti's to them. However, I can point to a review I did of Keti's:

Belly Dance Video Review: Bellydance Live, Volume 1 - Introduction to Music and Rhythms, by Keti Sharif

Jane said:

That sounds like it would be interesting. Eek! I haven't taken Spanish since high school. I'd be totally out of my depth. No subtitles? <hopeful voice>

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I have her DVD without subtitles, however according to jahbie they have them with subtitles as well?

I don't speak much Spanish, but I can understand a lot, especially when there is a visual context to what I'm hearing. I think even someone who doesn't speak any Spanish could get something out of the DVD, but it would help to understand at least a bit.

But if there's subtitles, that shouldn't be a problem.

I thought that the Saida DVDs mentioned would be the ones by Saida and Mario Kirlis, and they have a subtitles button in the menu. But maybe I have the wrong Saida?

Yame said:

I have her DVD without subtitles, however according to jahbie they have them with subtitles as well?

I don't speak much Spanish, but I can understand a lot, especially when there is a visual context to what I'm hearing. I think even someone who doesn't speak any Spanish could get something out of the DVD, but it would help to understand at least a bit.

But if there's subtitles, that shouldn't be a problem.

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Keti's sounds a lot like Ranya's. Does anyone have them both who could tell me if there is any difference in the covered material?

Jane said:

Keti's sounds a lot like Ranya's. Does anyone have them both who could tell me if there is any difference in the covered material?

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They're ENTIRELY different.

I think of Keti's as more of an introduction -- here's something to think about now go learn it in depth. And Ranya's as "here it is in depth."

Also, their philosophies are really different. Ranya is a lot about just organic movement rather than specific "shapes."

Aziyade said:

They're ENTIRELY different.

I think of Keti's as more of an introduction -- here's something to think about now go learn it in depth. And Ranya's as "here it is in depth."

Also, their philosophies are really different. Ranya is a lot about just organic movement rather than specific "shapes."

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Humm...after Ranya's is grocked is there another video that would be a logical next step?

Erm, not really. There's the Cheeky Girls "Meaning in Movement" which introduces a lot of concepts, but kind of stops there. Beyond RR's dvds, I think you would do well to rely on performance videos for analysis.

Have you had the requisite workshop with Karim Nagi yet?

Aziyade said:

Have you had the requisite workshop with Karim Nagi yet?

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I don't think he's been within a eight hour drive which is about my limit. If he has I missed it. I'm pretty isolated, which is why I invest in so many DVDs and books. We have a large area with a low population, low income, and no Middle Eastern community. Recently we've gotten two workshops a year in the entire state. We used to have one every five years, so things are looking up. It's not easy to learn in this part of the U.S. If any workshops are requisite, I'm simply SOL