Arabic traditional cds, Orientale

Al-Hawanem (Mohammed Ali Ensemble) Egyptian orientale
Tracks in accord with the typical orientale pattern: optional taksim solo, theme, repetition of theme,
taksims, repetition of theme, optional finale. The riqq is the main drum on most tracks (doumbek
leads a few), with quiet electronic percussive backing. Keyboard, nei, violin, oud, and faint qanun
comprise the melodic section. Compositions lend well to classical Egyptian Raks Sharki
interpretation, with excellent shifts. Rhythms include the standard complement of maqsum,
ciftetelli, malfuf, and ayuub. The tempos range from slow to moderately fast, with the album’s
strength lying in the moderate tempos. This album is particularly good for those interested in riqq,
nei, and Egyptian composition.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Excellent
Drum use: Excellent (riqq only)

Bellydancing for Fortune and Fame Arabic Orientale
Sure enough, I used three of the tracks from this album to get my two longest-held jobs: not quite
fortune or fame, but a living. The album is strongest in the well-known Arabic pieces, presenting
competent renditions with decent energy in blissfully short tracks. The Turkish songs (Shisheler,
Rompi Rompi, Bir Demet, and Mastika) present a wonderful example of an Arabic band perfectly
approximating Turkish compositions while completely missing the style. (The karsilamas are
precisely on beat, but blunder horribly by playing the 7, 8, and 9 beats with equal emphasis in all but
the riffs). The drum solos are beautifully composed for Raks Sharki, but don’t display either
blistering skill or terribly much energy: nevertheless, they are eminently usable. Several tracks
contain vocals. The album is about evenly split between slow pieces (mainly ciftetellis), fast pieces (maqsum and malfuf),
drum solos, and karsilamas. Riq, doumbek, keyboard, zils, and qanun are the most audible instruments. I recommend this
album for dancers, as the compositions are all tightly played with the appropriate emphases, but not greatly for drummers: the
riffs presented here are worth learning, but can be picked up elsewhere along with advanced material.
Overall: Good
Danceability: Excellent
Drum Use: Good

Exotic Blady, Sami Aly Egyptian Folkloric

This album is very much Egyptian country (baladi) music. Tar, doumbek, violin, and zils provide
the meat, with vocals driving the songs. Accordion, nei, and tasteful drum set cymbal also appear.
The mix is a little rough around the edges, in keeping with the folkloric feel. Rhythms are mainly
maqsum, sai’idi, and a long, slow ciftetelli. Highly recommended for folkloric dance enthusiasts,
for use in a folkloric number during a Raks Sharki performance, and for those interested in
Egyptian music.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Excellent (folkloric)
Drum Use: Good

Flowers Oriental: Dance Music, Sayed Balaha Egyptian Oriental
Somewhat campy, eminently danceable Egyptian Raks Sharki music. Inta Omri is led by a
synthesized guitar; the accordion leads much of the rest of the album. The doumbek (Sayed
Balaha) is particularly excellent, playing tasteful riffs off the accordion. There is a drum solo
exemplifying the Egyptian slow-style drum solo but marred by a bit of camp factor. Also notable is
Oh, Oh balaha which most of us know as the “Menumena” song from the Muppets, here sung by
Egyptian children and accordion over ayub, with doumbek running through riffs. I don’t really
know why the last track, Black Heritage, is included: it’s the only track with pop vocals, drum set,
and electric bass.
Overall: Variable
Danceability: Variable/Good
Drum Use: Great

Halawah, Reda Darwish Egyptian Orientale
This album perfectly bridges the gap in my artificial separation of Orientale albums from drum solo
albums. Kanun and keyboard provide the melodies, but Reda’s drumming is the heart and focus of
each piece. Several tracks are great modern-style Egyptian Raks Sharki compositions; several are
excellent taksims with percussive back-up; and a few are blistering drum solos. All but the taksims
and some of the drum solos contain vocals. The final track is “Tequila” (replaced by “Halawah!”
as appropriate), with saxophone and keyboard over Reda’s flying fingers. Drums include tar,
doumbek, and doumbek-bongos.
Overall: Good
Danceability: Good
Drum use: Excellent

Jalilah’s Raks Sharki, vol 6: In a Beirut Mood, Ihsan Al Munzer
Two of the tracks, Tales of the Sahara and Al-Houriyah, are complete routines
featuring intro, one or two basic pieces, taksim, drum solo, and outro. The sound
is polished, consisting mainly of keyboard and nei with doumbek, deff, and riq.
Violin, oud, mizmar, and electronic kanun appear. Of the remaining tracks, several
are taksims, acceptable but not extraordinary. Rakset Banat Baladi (Dance of the
Country Girls) is a pleasing accordion piece that starts with an extremely slow
“walking” maqsum and shifts to faster maqsum. The drum solos are a bit variable
in quality, but the solo in Al-Houriyah is fantastic. Both of the other solos have
portions of unaccompanied, roll and cutesy finger technique. One long piece,
Lenabnese Bouquet, contains vocals and a really rocking mizmar sai’idi part. I
highly recommend the album for dancers (just be aware of the extended length of
the tracks).
Overall: Good
Danceability: Excellent
Drum Use: Great

Modern Belly Dance from Egypt, Gizira Band Egyptian Orientale
The primary instrument is keyboard, which is used as an organ and also to imitate kanun,
accordion, and the percussion section. The violin seems to be real. Doumbek is the only real drum
on most of the tracks, and is much too low in the mix. A few tracks have riq, which is often
completely buried. So: the sound is very electronic. The compositions are fairly nice, using plenty
of rhythmic shifts. Maqsum, masmoudi, ayuub, and ciftetelli are used, but sai’idi is the most
common rhythm used. Consequently, several tracks would be great with cane (Raks Assaya), and
the album is good for Raks Sharki if you don’t mind the electronic sound. There is one drum solo
track which is sleepy, too long, terribly mixed, and adheres to the same tempo for six solid
minutes.
Overall: Moderate
Danceability: Good
Drum use: Minimal

Music of the Great Om Kalsoum Egyptian Orientale
The first five tracks have an extremely electronic feel, with keyboard and accordion as the main
instruments. Doumbek is very low in the mix, riq a bit better. But from track 6 (Houwa Sahihe
Houwa Ghalab) onward, real kanun, violin, oud, accordion, and nei play the songs with keyboard
for occasional backup only. Leylet Hob (with qanun introductory taksim), is well-mixed, lively, and
wonderfully executed. Lesa Fakir is also excellent. The album is wonderful for Raks Sharki: the
songs are all classics and they are played well. Oh, in case it's not obvious: Om Kalsoum's voice is
not on this album, it's covers.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Excellent
Drum use: Minimal (good examples, but low volume)

Nelly, Sayed Balaha Egyptian Orientale
This is one of my favorite Egyptian Raks Sharki cd’s. Keyboard underscores the melody and
provides the framework for qanun, nei, and accordion. The album has two great strengths: the
high quality of the composition, with lovely shifts and excellent mix; and the drums. Deff, riq, and
doumbek compliment each other and fit the music perfectly. Rhythms include slow, funky ayuub,
maqsum of all flavors, malfuf, masmoudi (3 doum), ciftetelli, and heavy sai’idi. There are two
drum solos. The first is brief but contains classic Raks Sharki riffs in a terrific doumbek, deff, and
riq mix. The second is almost seven minutes long, so be ready with the editting software, but is
also great for dancing.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Excellent
Drum use: Great

Oriental Music (Khan El Khalili) Egyptian Orientale
Old-fashioned Orientale with a rough sound. Accordion and nei are just about the only melodic
instruments, with vocals on one track. Doumbek and riq are played heavily and well. Sagat (zills)
are expertly played – they obviously got a real sagat player rather than just the dah-da-dahn you
usually hear. The rhythms are ayub, maqsum, and ciftetelli. The tracks are all well-suited for
dancing, but you have to enjoy the old-fashioned sound (especially accordion).
Overall: Great
Danceability: Great (old school)
Drum use: Good (but no solos)

The Rough Guide to Bellydance
I’m going to use some more space on this one because I actually want
to evaluate the job this album did attempting to encapsulate bellydance.

This compilation captures some things very well and misses others. There are several nice modern
Arabic Orientale pieces, such as Tahia’s Dance (Ihsan Al Munzer). There are also a number of
Arabic Orientale tracks with the old-school, roughly mixed accordion-heavy sound many of us
remember from bellydancing years and years and years ago (e.g., Setrak Sarkissian makes an
appearance with “Ala Jsrel Low Ziyyi”). There are only two Turkish songs. The result is kind of a
guide to cabaret bellydance as practiced in the US before the fusion and pop craze (and outside the tribal realm). The choice to
use both Middle Eastern and American (and Arab-American) works well within this framework. The tracks that are present on
the album range from mediocre to great, with only a few real hits (Reda Darwish’s flying drum solos come to mind).

The problem is, this album purports to be a guide (however rough), and there are several glaring omissions. (I know, there’s
only so much space on one disk, but some tracks are quite similar and “Aament Bellah” has no right to be twelve minutes
long). There is only one track that is a classic, immediately recognizable: Enta Omri, and the rendition is decent but not
brilliant. (I would have chosen Aziza or Leylet Hob). The drum solos are extremely fast and not really crafted for Raks
Sharki. (I would have included a solo demonstrating familiar doumbek riffs in sets of four, in place of at least one of the run-
away-drummer solos. Uncle Mafufo’s solo comes close). Turkey is grossly under-represented. “Kirkpinar Ciftetellisi”
(Kemani Cemal Cinarli) is fantastic: heavy, powerfully traditional Turkish, but also completely in line with a smoky nightclub
atmosphere. I absolutely love Tekbilek’s “Laz”, but I can’t remember ever having seen a Laz performed in a nightclub outside
of Turkey (and there only by folkloric troupes). Karsilama (9/8) is vastly more common in bellydance, and an example should
definitely have been included. There is one pop-ish track, “The Happy Sheik” by Rabih Abdou-Khalil, which really doesn’t
belong. If the Guide compilers wanted to have one pop track to suggest the idea of modern fusion, they really should have
chosen a shaabi song, or techno, or Tarkan, etc. And finally, none of the tracks is particularly tribal-oriented.
Overall: Good
Danceability: Great
Drum use: Moderate

                                     Sindebad, Salatin El Tarb Orchestra
                                     Egyptian Orientale
                                     I bought this album because it has one of the best dance
                                     photos ever on the cover. The music doesn’t disappoint,
                                     although all but one of the tracks are extremely long. Fiddle,
                                     keyboard, oud, and qanun are the melodic instruments;
                                     doumbek and riq share prominence as the rhythm section,
                                     with help from occasional clapping. The rhythms (maqsum,
                                     sai’idi, ciftetelli, and masmoudi) are played extremely competently in conspicuously proper Egyptian
style, and for this reason I highly recommend the album to drummers despite the lack of drum solos. Tracks have nice energy
and wonderful shifts, so I also recommend the album highly to dancers (or at least to dancers armed with software to trim the
song lengths). The one short track is currently a part of my regular routine.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Excellent
Drum use: Excellent

Egyptian Cabaret Music, Judy Jihan Reda Egyptian Orientale
The music is clearly selected, arranged, and played for a Raks Sharki performance, including
classics such as Leylet Hob and Sidi Inta. Doumbek, riq, accordion, qanun, oud, and violin make
up the ensemble. The percussion is mixed at an appropriate level to the melodic instruments,
though I can’t tell if the oud is even playing on most of the tracks. The band plays with great
energy (occasionally clapping and shouting ay-wahs). The taksims are serviceable without being
spectacular. Of particular note is the drum solo, which appears as two tracks, one editted for
length. The riffs, progression, and slow unaccompanied part present a fine example of a classical
Egyptian Orientale drum solo. The production quality is a little gritty – you can almost smell the
cigarettes in the night club – but the mix is good. Overall, this is album is a splendid collection of
Egyptian Raks Sharki music.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Excellent
Drum use: Moderate