Anyone know of any good belly dancing music? I especially like the female vocal stuff… but I know so little about the genre that I don’t know where to start.
Not female, but George Abo is great. I have “The Magic of Bellydancing” on my wake-up CD alarm clock. Yu can get his stuff at most big stores.
My sister lives in Israel. I also love middle Eastern music, and just asked her to send me some ideas for fairly traditional music & artists. I’ll let you know!
Natacha Atlas is the only pure M.E. Female singer that I have in my collection. Good, but a little modern for my tastes.
Alabina is a really cool flamenco/M.E. fusion. The female singer is Persion and sings in Arabic, but the band is flamenco.
Omar Faruk Tekbilek is my all-time favorite artist. His style is Turkish. I recommend the albums “Fire Dance” and “Best of the Sultan’s”. The Sultan’s is a group he used to head, and does very tradional music. Fire Dance is more artistic.
Another album I highly recommend is “Passion: Sources” This is music that Peter Gabriel compiled as source material for the soundtrack of “The Last Temptation of Christ”. It has a good variety of styles from North Africa to India.
Not quite M.E. but compatible, Vas is a duo that usually comes under the New Age label. The singer is Persian, so there’s a definite M.E. influence. I usually consider them more background music than dance music.
Another group that is very compatible is Dead Can Dance. I won’t be surprised if you already have their music - if not, I consider “Toward the Within” their best album.
Note:
I much prefer Turkish style music to Egyptian; however, most B.D. music is Egyptian, so there’s a lot of music out there I just don’t have, and wouldn’t recommend because I don’t like it, even if you might. YMMV
the first track of loreena mckennitt’s the mask and mirror usually has me attempting belly dancing…
Hehehe… good call! I got into their stuff around '90 and have several albums… god I love it!
Thanks for the tips! I’m poking around on Napster to sample the stuff you’ve recommended… when I find what I’m looking for I’ll buy a few CDs 
Her “Marco Polo” from the Book of Secrets is also VERY good for Belly Dancing. It’s instrumental, but so what? It sound somewhat Byzantine, to me.
Thanks for the ideas… anyone else know of any? I prefer something with more of a beat rather than the slower stuff…
Opal,
If you send me a mailing address, sometime soon you might receive some albums!
I can’t really give much advice because the albums I have access to here (Istanbul, Turkey) do not have international distribution.
Wow, cool!!!
You can send anything to:
OpalCat
PO BOx 3874
Reston VA 22031
Wow, thanks so much!
Hey, Watermelon Man! ::waving hand:: I would be happy to pay or trade for stuff from the US too! Email me~I love collecting music from other countries, and I love Turkish music. I lived in Turkey for 4 years, and could always use more stuff.
I’m backing the Loreena Mckennitt supporters. Excellent stuff.
I like Turkish and Lebanese stuff, myself. Emad Sayyah (Lebanese). Kinda folkdancy, upbeat. Not loads of singing, but way fun to dance to.
Brian Keane with Omar Faruk Tekbilek - Both Beyond the Sky and the soundtrack of Suleyman the Magnificent (excellent stuff!). Gypsey Fire (also with Omar) has some nice classic/traditional stuff on it, like a good version of Siseler.
And actually, some of Ofra Haza’s older stuff is some of my favorite female vocalist music (Israeli pop). Some is slow, some is fast.
I have something by Jehan, too, but I don’t use it much. Don’t remember why - Trance Dance style, which could be why.
Also, Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors do some nice primitive rhythm/voice stuff. I use their albums for class warmups as well as dancing, good rhythms.
I join in appreciating ‘Marco Polo’, and not being terribly fond of Egyptian, especially the highly orchestrated stuff.
Any east-coasters? Some good seminars (at reasonable rates) coming up this year in Philly. I can send on info, if you want - let me know.
Most of the ethnic dancers I’ve known have used a lot o the music of the Brothers of the Baladi.
Thank you so much Watermelon Man!!! I got the 3 CDs the other day but we’ve been frantically trying to rescue our server from a crash and I haven’t had much time to do anything until now. Thank you so much!!! I’ve already listened to all of them