websites to find music?

[Sophia Maria]

I've been trying to buy more music because my dance practices have been getting stale and I find they drastically improve with new music that I'm excited about. I've wanted so bad to stock up on a bunch of Warda songs because she is my absolute favorite, but I am wary of buying things when I don't know if the file is the complete recording. For example, I found Betwanes Beek, but the file says it was some number of minutes and I could have sworn it was longer. I'm not sure, but when I can't listen to the whole recording I don't want to just jump and buy it. To add to the confusion, I found one of her original albums on Amazon (as opposed to the remastered, severely shortened 4 minute versions I keep finding), but it appears it was uploaded in Arabic and Amazon doesn't process the script. (Or my computer doesn't). I could read the Arabic if they had it, but the computer appears not to understand it and so the album is listed as

1. ?????
2. ?? ?????
3. ??? ??? ?????

and so on. Is there a good, reliable website I can buy mp3s of her stuff...or would buying a hard copy be better? To add to my frustration, I've been trying to find the FULL version of Ismaouni and haven't succeeded anywhere. The closest I get is by typing إسمعوني directly in the youtube search bar.

 

[Daimona]

Try various spelling of the name of the song (ismaouni, esmaouni, esmawni, ismawni, ismawny etc).

I don't know any places where you can listen to the whole song before downloading it (perhaps other than using streaming services like Spotify etc).

Previously I used Mazika - Music to get various pop-music.
Other than that, Arabic Music MP3, Arabic Music Songs, Arabic Movies, Belly Dance is a great place to get music as well (but still not full samples).

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Sophia, have you tried Arabic Music - Arabe Songs - Rai Music | Melody4Arab ? They have full demo tracks. Don't know if they have what you're looking for, but it's worth a try.

 

[shiradotnet]

For example, I found Betwanes Beek, but the file says it was some number of minutes and I could have sworn it was longer.

Recordings of the big-name legendary singers can be confusing. Often, there are multiple issues of a given song on the market, each recorded at a different live concert. Or, maybe one was recorded in a studio, and another in a concert. Sometimes the concert recordings are quite different lengths from each other depending on how many times the singer and his/her band felt moved to repeat certain passages.

I can't remember which song it was, but I have two recordings of a certain Oum Kalthoum song in which one is only 15 minutes and the other is a full hour. The 15-minute version was NOT cut by a heavy-handed editor, that's just what length that particular concert performance lasted for. The hour-long version just repeated segments multiple times. The interesting thing about the legendary singers, particularly Oum Kalthoum, was that even though she repeats the same phrase several times in a row, each phrase carries a different nuance of emotion or emphasis. it's not something we see so much in Western music.

 

[Sophia Maria]

Aaa! I forgot I started this thread, I've been so busy! Thanks for suggestions, I will definitely try them when my internet download allowance is back up to full capacity.

Shira, that's right, it's tricky when there are several different versions of a song. If I could find the 30 minute-ish version of Ismaouni that I've been looking for, I will be the happiest dancer alive. It's on youtube if you dive into the Arabic-only section of youtube, but there's a voice at the beginning of the recording that says says a website name, so I guess trying to snatch that recording is out of the question.

 

[Darshiva]

You could always try the translate button on the youtube videos. It doesn't always work, but it's worth a try.

 

[Sophia Maria]

I don't need the translation, hehe! At least not for the song titles and singer names :dance:

 

[shiradotnet]

Shira, that's right, it's tricky when there are several different versions of a song. If I could find the 30 minute-ish version of Ismaouni that I've been looking for, I will be the happiest dancer alive. It's on youtube if you dive into the Arabic-only section of youtube, but there's a voice at the beginning of the recording that says says a website name, so I guess trying to snatch that recording is out of the question.

I've never focused much on hunting down versions of that particular song, so I don't know where you could download the 30-minute version. If you don't already know about Kiyaana's "Belly Dance Downloads" web site, you might want to take a look at that to see if she can link you to the version you're looking for: Welcome to Bellydance Downloads!