Om Kalsoum- Good, bad and the ugly interpretations

[Suheir]

If I am honest, I liked most of all (next to Egyptian Lucy), American Lucys interpretation. She dances a very good Egyptian style. I also liked Orit and Aisha, I found Bozenka acceptable but not great, but I didn't like Azeeza's interpretation. She tries to dance Egyptian, but it looks more like American Cabaret , which is absolutely o.k. for any other kind of music, but nor for Oum Kalsoum (O.k., you know by now that I am a purist, when it comes to Oum Kalsoum).
I agree with Kiraze, that there are Oum Kalsoum songs which are difficult to dance, and others which are less difficult. It depends also at the musical interpretation. If they have been kept "original", or if they have been very adapted to Raqs Sharqi.

I totally agree with your opinions of the peformances. American Lucy is great, I'd not seen her before! I really don't like Aziza's dancing, her movements are huge and she uses the music in a strange way. I think her performance that won her 'Bellydancer Of The Universe' was awful and the way she butchered Hossam Ramzy's 'Faddah' was shocking.

 

[Kiraze]

I didn't like Azeeza's interpretation. She tries to dance Egyptian, but it looks more like American Cabaret , which is absolutely o.k. for any other kind of music, but nor for Oum Kalsoum (O.k., you know by now that I am a purist, when it comes to Oum Kalsoum).

I agree that Aziza´s style is not Egyptian but I still prefer her interpretation (and I confess that I even like some Jillina´s interpretations - especially Leylet Hob... ) to Om Kalsoum over modern Egyptian "Raqia Hassan/Dina" style as it still catches in my eyes the flow of classical feeling of Golden Age better than this modern style. (BTW I would not call this style AmCab, which is totally different - maybe this could be called "Westernized Egyptian" as it definately has Egyptian basic but western influences - and in my eyes also most of the German dancers represent this same style)

BTW can someone find any Om Kalsoum clips by other Egyptian dancers but Lucy? I tried but so far without luck.

 

[Jamil]

From an Arab Point of view, i truely believe that any and all of Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez or Farid Attrach's songs cant be simply 'danced' to. but must be felt before danced to.

arab audiences know, that even when it comes to Modern arabic songs that deal with emotion, None can compare to the depth of sentiment that these aforementioned singers have been able to express. Their songs are so powerful in the arab world, that even hearing a few beats of a song will automatically result in audiences entrancing into a certian mindset. if a performer doesnt mirror that same passion, reguradless of her talent, they wont be impressed.

in my opinion, when it comes to the classics, most educated arabs dont focus on talent and how much pops and locks a dancer has in her movement vocabulary, but rather how powerful her interpretation of the song is... thus i find it fundamental for dancers to know what their songs mean when they use them in a performance.

This criteria is also how i Judge a good and bad Oum Kalthoum performance.

Just thought i would add my 2 cents.
-=Jamil=-

 

[chryssanthi sahar]

From an Arab Point of view, i truely believe that any and all of Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez or Farid Attrach's songs cant be simply 'danced' to. but must be felt before danced to.

arab audiences know, that even when it comes to Modern arabic songs that deal with emotion, None can compare to the depth of sentiment that these aforementioned singers have been able to express. Their songs are so powerful in the arab world, that even hearing a few beats of a song will automatically result in audiences entrancing into a certian mindset. if a performer doesnt mirror that same passion, reguradless of her talent, they wont be impressed.

in my opinion, when it comes to the classics, most educated arabs dont focus on talent and how much pops and locks a dancer has in her movement vocabulary, but rather how powerful her interpretation of the song is... thus i find it fundamental for dancers to know what their songs mean when they use them in a performance.

This criteria is also how i Judge a good and bad Oum Kalthoum performance.

Just thought i would add my 2 cents.
-=Jamil=-

I completely agree:clap: This is the reason that although I dance Egyptian style , I am a very experienced dancer and I have a big knowledge of Arabian music, I haven't dared to dance certain songs of Oum Kalsoum in public yet. I want to get deeper into Oum Kalsoum's music and I want to know the meaning of the words, before I start performing it in public (o.k. I perform some Raqs Sharqi adaptions with themes of some of her songs, but not the classics like "Lissa Fakir" and "Enta Omri", although we have a Greek version of Enta Omri).

 

[chryssanthi sahar]

I agree that Aziza´s style is not Egyptian but I still prefer her interpretation (and I confess that I even like some Jillina´s interpretations - especially Leylet Hob... ) to Om Kalsoum over modern Egyptian "Raqia Hassan/Dina" style as AmCab still catches in my eyes the flow of classical feeling of Golden Age better than this modern style.

Sorry Kiraze, but at this point I completely disagree. Your eye is probably not trained enough for the details of the modern Egyptian style and it's interpretation of the music.

 

[Kiraze]

Sorry Kiraze, but at this point I completely disagree. Your eye is probably not trained enough for the details of the modern Egyptian style and it's interpretation of the music.

well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - my eye just prefers some other styles and another reason may be that I have just seen far too many overly choreographed, overly technical, overly introverted or overacted "modern Egyptian" versions of Om Kalsoum´s or any other classics and with few exceptions they have just bored me to death whether the dance was created by Raqia or any of her devotées in Finland or somewhere else... (and as a side note of Finnish dancers about 100% dance modern Egyptian including me before turning into heretic... and I still do but I just try not to tell anybody )

 

[Helena]

The veil dancer and Masha have no oriental roots. "They don't know better " an arab would say. So they have a 50% excuse.

The veil dancer is Shakira herself, so she does have oriental roots.. :think:

 

[Persephone]

I've always loved (American) Lucy's "Lessa Fakir" interpretation...I think she did a fantasitc job!
Gia

I was lucky enough to be in class with Lucy while she was developing her "Lessa Fakir" (I was working on my version of Farid el-Atrache's "Leila"). The song is very personal to her, and you can tell from that from the way she moves. It makes me all weepy.

 

[Persephone]

Sorry Kiraze, but at this point I completely disagree. Your eye is probably not trained enough for the details of the modern Egyptian style and it's interpretation of the music.

I don't think it's really fair to say that someone isn't as "trained" as you because she has a different opinion. Personally, I agree that modern BDSS style lacks the real feeling for am Oum Khalsoum song, but I have heard arguments that a lot of AmCab dancers have things in common with the Golden Age stars that Dina and Randa don't, and I can see that argument even though I personally prefer Dina and Randa. This is an art, not a science, and not everyone with a sufficient amount of "training" will come to the same conclusions.

 

[Simone min al Akariyah]

Dear Kiraze,
also felt a little discomfort once when Chryssanthi tried to let me know that I did not properly listen or misunderstood. She uses clear words instead of whatever polite expressions. The thing is: most of the time she is really not unright. She wants to show and teach us to see, feel and understand oriental dance. Most of our teachers cannot do it. - Therefore I appreciate her comments.


Thanks, Helena,
very surprising to hear that Shakira is the veil dancer. Now, I wonder how the people of Zahle (Shakira's father is Zahle raised) would assess this 'Enta Omri' interpretation. But I could imagine they would be slightly irritated.

 

[chryssanthi sahar]

Ladies, sorry for my sometimes very direct answers. I know I should be more diplomatic, but unfortunately my Greek nature breaks through:lol: Even if some of my comments sound a bit harsh, I really don't mean to offend anybody.
Dear Kiraze, I hope you understood what I meant: I didn't want to tell, that you have no understanding for modern Egyptian style. I know that you are a fun of Turkish style and sometimes when you are focused on one style, you just oversee some things about other styles. But now I know that you are not so fond of modern Egyptian style, because you just saw and danced too much of it
Dear Simone, thank you for understanding me right And sorry for my sometimes too "clear" words:lol:

 

[Kiraze]

Dear Kiraze, I hope you understood what I meant: I didn't want to tell, that you have no understanding for modern Egyptian style.

But of course I understand - and I was never offended by your comment, just found it a bit amusing to my dance background

Anyway my "dislike" to modern Egyptian style is not so black and white as one of the most beautiful performances I have ever seen was Randa Kamel dancing to classic Fi Yom Wi Leyla, which even though is not a song by Om Kalsoum is of same style from same period of time. In all I however find the movement vocabulary of modern Egyptian style to be too withdrawn and same time too suggestive to be enjoyed with classical music which in my eyes demands usually more flowing lines and bigger space :dance:

 

[Maria_Aya]

Hey someone asked for more video's of Oum Kalthoum by Egyptian dancers.
And whats more egyptian than Fifi Abdo dancing to Ana Fintizerak????

(I guess you know already that my favorite all time dancer is Fifi, right? )

Enjoy her:


Fifi gets all her sensuality in her dance.

And another example on the same song with Nour
Here her husband Yasser sings.
Opposite of Fifi, Nour dance an a-sexualized egyptian style, but always with lyric style.



Maria Aya

 

[Ranya]

I LOOOOVE Nour, I think she is very very talented and has a good feeling for the music. She may not be the best bellydancer ever, but dancing as half as good as she does is already a huge think. I love Fifi too. I think you really chose two good examples Maria and just as you say: their styles are pretty different, Nour is more reserved and almost fragile and Fifi puts a very different energy into it. Love them both!

 

[Simone min al Akariyah]

Thank you very much for providing these two excellent samples.

I prefer Fifi for her sensual perfection, I love Nour for presenting a kind of more sensation (or how to say)

 

[Kharmine]

I'm more familiar with the vintage stars then contemporary ones so it was nice to see a variety here.

I liked Egyptian Lucy's performance far more than Didem -- for all Lucy looks rather strangely like she's had a facelift (isn't she too young for one?), she shows far more emotion in her interpretation. Lucy started as an actress, perhaps the training pays off.

Didem reminded me of a runway model -- frozen face, graceful gestures, some odd posturings, and the impression that she was showing off the costume rather than dancing.

 

[Nejsret]

Dancing ???

Inspired by the thread about Maria Shaskova I started to browse YouTube for some good, bad or the ugly interpretations of Om Kalsoum´s songs... It would be interesting to see some different examples and comments what makes them good, bad or simply ugly

I start with Enta Omri danced by Didem:


Her style is very modern and overall feeling is very Turkish (they emphasize on melody and not the original story of the song) but I like most of the thing she is doing during first 4 minutes because of her suppleness and softness but the final 2 minutes with floor-wipe feels just so wrong to this music

Can she dance ???? I only see arms up and down and an ugly gimnastic end...

 

[Nejsret]

Sorry!

My last message was "a bit" out of date... I am new in the forum.

 

[Mariesaffron]

I agree that Aziza´s style is not Egyptian but I still prefer her interpretation (and I confess that I even like some Jillina´s interpretations - especially Leylet Hob... ) to Om Kalsoum over modern Egyptian "Raqia Hassan/Dina" style as it still catches in my eyes the flow of classical feeling of Golden Age better than this modern style. (BTW I would not call this style AmCab, which is totally different - maybe this could be called "Westernized Egyptian" as it definately has Egyptian basic but western influences - and in my eyes also most of the German dancers represent this same style)

BTW can someone find any Om Kalsoum clips by other Egyptian dancers but Lucy? I tried but so far without luck.

I have seeing a good interpretation of Om Kalsoum music by Egyptian Dancer Suheir Zaki. Marie

 

[Silvinka]

YouTube - Turkish Bellydance :: Didem ::

:think: