Building your bellydance music library!

Farasha Hanem

New member
This sticky is for posting recommendations for music to add to your bellydance library, and since I'm still fairly new to bellydance, any recommendations you have are more than welcome. Here are some categories we can start off with (we can add categories as necessary, as well as CD recommendations):

Beginner basics

Egyptian/Arabic (including all subcategories)

Turkish

ATS/ITS

American Oriental (if I get any of these categories wrong, please feel free to correct me)
I'm also including the following category, since we have several dancers here who practice styles that aren't traditional bellydance:

Tribal fusion (including Goth, steampunk, etc.)

*****************************************************************

I have a couple of recommendations for basic beginner CD's:

http://www.amazon.com/Nourhan-Sharif-Rhythms-Eitneen-Lebanon/dp/B00078X1O2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1297052345&sr=1-2

Here is another good one for the beginner bellydancer:

Amazon.com: 10 Songs Every Bellydancer Should Know: Various Artists: MP3 Downloads---this one includes familiar ones such as "Habibi Ya Eyni," "Alf Leyla," "Shik Shak Shok," "Aziza," and "Enta Omri."

and here's one my previous bellydance teacher used/uses:

Amazon.com: Bellydancing for Fortune & Fame: The Mogador Band: Music

I have this one in the Turkish category:

Huseyin & Gunay Turkmenler - Turkish Bellydance CD Album

For ATS, I love anything by Solace; here's a good example:

Solace Ahsas Belly Dance Music CD - At DancingRahana.com

For Tribal fusion and it's variations, I'm fond of Maduro, Pentaphobe, and Beats Antique:

Maduro - Shimmer Sustain CD Album

Pentaphobe - Tribal Metamorphosis CD Album

Beats Antique - Tribal Derivations CD Album
 

goddessyasaman

New member
I like the bellylicious series, very good music mix. Anything by "solace". I'm going to look through my collection and see all the ones I've got, and I'll post more but check out those two. :D
 

onela

New member
In my short time of acquiring belly dance music, I've got some hits and some misses. My latest favourite is this Cafe Belly Dance 3 disk set. This is a great way for a noob like me to just straight up bulk up their library because it's affordable but not cheap in quality- very modern instrumentation, good variety in rhythms, etc.
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
My favorite "Beginner basics" set I picked up when I was first starting was the "Beginner's Guide to Bellydance". I think it's an import from the UK? When I put all my music on random just to see what pops out to me 80% of the time the song I stop on is from one of these three disks.
 

gisela

Super Moderator
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Ariadne

Well-known member
Funny how many of those "beginner's guide to" or "rough guide to" there are. I started out with one as well. I still like it although the lounge and pop cd's are getting a bit outdated:
Beginner's Guide to Arabia: Various Artists: Amazon.co.uk: Music

:think:

It looks like they are both from a huge line of "Beginners Guide to" sets of 3CD's.
Beginners Guide to Bellydance
Beginner's Guide to Arabia
Beginner's Guide to Arabian Lounge
Beginner's Guide to Turkey
Beginner's Guide to Greece


You name it they have it; Blues, Tango, Celtic, Eastern European, Bhangra, everything.
Nascente has impressed me with the quality of the mixes they've created.
(They're available on Amazon.com as well.)
 
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Sherezade

New member
I like Bellydance Superstars and Desert Roses. My favourite song is "Khalleouni, Khalleouni" by Latifa in DR. I haven't got all CD's, though, just vols. 4 of both collections. I also like DJ Mosavo, which plays for the Luscious DVD. I have another CD with music chosen by the belly twins, Neena and Veena. It's called Belly Dance Fantasy. It's the one they advert in their website, where they're wearing blue skirts, bras and veils.
 

gisela

Super Moderator
hello
please send to me music arabic bely dance or clip and hot picture

Hi Osman,
We don't send music for free to people. On this forum we urge people to buy the music themself to support the musicians. Also, asking for "hot pictures" is not appropriate, sorry. This is a serious discussion forum.
 

Jane

New member
Classic Songs All Belly Dancers Should Know:

Ah Ya Zein
Ala Baladi Elimhboub
Ala Hesh Wedad Galbi
Ala Nar
Alf Leyla We Leyla
Ana Fi Intizarak
Ayeela Tayha
Aziza
Bahlam Beek
Banat Iskandria
Batawans Beek
Bir Demet Yasemen
Dala'a el Helween
El Gamal Wel Gamal
El Hiya Hilwa
Enta Omri
Esmaouni
Gamil Gamal
Ghannili Sheway Sheway
Habibi Ya Eini
Habibi Ya Nour El Ein
Habina
Hani
Harramt Ahebbaek
Hazar Fazar
Hes Bes
Hizzi Ya Nawaeem
Lailet Hob
Lama Bada
Lissa Fakir
Luxor Baladna
Mashaal
Mastika
Miserlou
Mustapha
Nagwa's Drum Solo
Noura Noura
Rampi Rampi
Salamat Ya Om Hassan
Sallam Allay
Samra Ya Samra
Sawah
Set el Hosen
Shashkin
Shick Shak Shok
Simarik
Ta Mavra Matia Sou
Tahtil Shibbak
Toutah
Uskudar
Wahashtini
We Daret El Ayam
Ya Gameel
Ya Rayah
Ya Tamr Henna
Yesilim
Zay al Hawa
Zeina


Vowels and some consonants in Arabic don’t translate into English exactly. Arabic is pronounced slightly differently from country to country and English and Arabic don’t have the exact same sound qualities. Q, K, SH, are often interchanged and vowels are switched a lot. Artist names and song titles spelling will vary when translated. Sometimes there are even different names for the same folk song altogether!

One big issue with belly dance music is that some of the same songs get played by several different cultures/countries. It may be the same song, but a Turkish version of an Egyptian song will sound different from when an American band or an Egyptian band plays it. It can get a little hairy, especially when people from different countries lay "claim" to the same tune. The best thing to do is to pick albums arranged for the famous Egyptian dancers or produced by Egyptian belly dancers. Hard copies are usually nicer and you get the liner notes.



Check the sections that specify Egyptian music:
Hollywood Music Center
https://www.dahlal.com/default.aspx?n=1&c=2&s1=0&s2=0
Belly Dance Music, Belly Dance CDs, Belly Dance MP3s, Buy Belly Dance Music
Amazon.com has some stuff, but it's not well organized
itunes

Good Egyptian Albums:
Belly Dance Classics with Fifi Abdo
Belly Dance with Dina
Belly Dance Time
Bint el Balad with Fifi Abdo
Beyond the Desert- Classical Egyptian Belly Dance
Cairo Delight
Cairo Plus
Cry to the Moon
Dancing with Genies
Drum Circle (Movses Pannosian)
The Essence of Belly Dance
Golden Days Enchanting Nights
Jalilah's Raks Sharki series 1-6
Master of Egyptian Belly Dance
Millennium- Music for Belly Dance
Melodies from Cairo
Nourhan Sharif Raqs Sharqui series
On Fire! The Hottest Belly Dance CD ever
Princess of Cairo
Pulse of the Sphinx
Samasem Dreams
Samasem Presents Music for Oriental Dance
The Soul of Cairo
Wash Ya Wash (series)
10 Songs Every Belly Dancer Should Know
123 Belly Dance
 

walladah

New member
I think that the answer depends on what you really want to do with dance

First, you need to explore more songs than the famous or popular ones. Those are good to get a good grasp on styles and on regional differences in music, but they cannot give you the depth of each musical tradition, nor the insights in creating your own style.

Second, apart from the popular songs, there big, classical works in the mediterranean which are bellydanceable, but they are not commercial, i.e. are not common in cabarets, on TV, in bellydance workshops.

third, given the popularity of egyptian style (actually egyptian cabaret style) the latest years, all discussion on good turkish and greek music, plus the gypsy traditions of middle east, egypt, greece, turkey and the balkans, has been eliminated to a bunch of dedicated people who work on those styles despite the non-commercial character.

fourth, depending on what you think of what is tribal, the bands proposed are awesome (i would add the Americanistan and 3spell, i think i did not see them in the list). However, many artists in the mediterranean work on music styles which are similar (modern, under mediterranean influences) but they have not the recognition as tribal, because those artists live and create within their own culture.

The difficulty on how to organise your search is normal, in the sense that i needed some years to find music i knew it existed (and i can handle greek and turkish languages which make it easier). That means, you need to spend plenty of time to search on your own apart our own recommendations. Moreover, for most mediterranean songs, there are many versions and you will need to listen to as many as you can to understand which you like most or which fit best your dancing style.

So, really, what you want to do with dance?
 

LatinoDanceWears

New member
This sticky is for posting recommendations for music to add to your bellydance library, and since I'm still fairly new to bellydance, any recommendations you have are more than welcome. Here are some categories we can start off with (we can add categories as necessary, as well as CD recommendations):

Beginner basics

Egyptian/Arabic (including all subcategories)

Turkish

ATS/ITS

American Oriental (if I get any of these categories wrong, please feel free to correct me)
I'm also including the following category, since we have several dancers here who practice styles that aren't traditional bellydance:

Tribal fusion (including Goth, steampunk, etc.)

*****************************************************************

I have a couple of recommendations for basic beginner CD's:

http://www.amazon.com/Nourhan-Sharif-Rhythms-Eitneen-Lebanon/dp/B00078X1O2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1297052345&sr=1-2

Here is another good one for the beginner bellydancer:

Amazon.com: 10 Songs Every Bellydancer Should Know: Various Artists: MP3 Downloads---this one includes familiar ones such as "Habibi Ya Eyni," "Alf Leyla," "Shik Shak Shok," "Aziza," and "Enta Omri."

and here's one my previous bellydance teacher used/uses:

Amazon.com: Bellydancing for Fortune & Fame: The Mogador Band: Music

I have this one in the Turkish category:

Huseyin & Gunay Turkmenler - Turkish Bellydance CD Album

For ATS, I love anything by Solace; here's a good example:

Solace Ahsas Belly Dance Music CD - At DancingRahana.com

For Tribal fusion and it's variations, I'm fond of Maduro, Pentaphobe, and Beats Antique:

Maduro - Shimmer Sustain CD Album

Pentaphobe - Tribal Metamorphosis CD Album

Beats Antique - Tribal Derivations CD Album

Thank you for your post. It's very useful for a newbie like me.
 
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