Ala Mahlik / Take Your Time - Hoda Sinbati
SoT005 - Dina's beladi singer
Click here to order
One of Egypt's brightest country music stars sings 7 classic songs: In Kan Habibi 3asil, 3and al-Sawaqi, Souq Bena ya Ousta, Tulli min al-Mushrabiya,'Alou Wada Mawsouf, 3ala Waraq al-Foul and the elusive Al-Helou fil-Veranda. The album contains two versions of each song - one long version, complete with an introductory leyali and mawwal - and a shorter version ideal for performing. The album also contains a tahmela with taqsims by her gifted mizmar and rababa players.

Lyrics to all songs included - transliterated and translated into English.

THE FIRST OF THE DRUM SOLO SERIES
Pulse of the Sphinx - The Henkesh Brothers
SoT004 - 10 Performance Solos + Drills
All good Middle Eastern dancers know that if they want to be great dancers they must work with a great drummer. This series is designed to bring Egypt's best drummers to belly dancers around the world. There is no substitute for working with a Master. Volume 1 is dedicated to the Henkesh brothers - Khamis, Ramadan and Reda - who have reigned supreme in Egypt for over 30 years as the drummers to the superstars. Mona Said, Nelly Fouad, Shoo Shoo Amin, Lucy, Ida Nour and Nadia Fouad all have worked with them. This CD has over 60 minutes of solos and has something for every level and style of Middle Eastern dance. The booklet contains articles about Middle Eastern percussive intruments - including finger cymbals, the basic rhythms, dancing to a drum solo and Egyptian shimmy technique. Click here to order.

THE FIRST OF THE ORIENTALE SERIES
Dancing with Genies - Haflah al Afareet
SoT003 - 2 Complete Egyptian cabaret shows  - click here to order.
2 complete Egyptian  style cabaret shows, each just under 30 minutes. Recorded in 2006 
in Cairo and mixed in the United States, these shows have been adapted for the time  
restraints of Western belly dance performances. The pieces will please the  purist however, 
as they were recorded almost exclusively with traditional  instruments. The album contains 
an extensive color booklet with translated  lyrics of the songs, a comparison of Belly 
Dance shows from around the Middle East and the United States, an article about Egyptian 
dance posture, origins of The Jinn and the entire script from Yasmin's movie, 
The Egyptian Bellydance Superstars.

Cry to the Moon - Taqasim lil Qamar
SoT002 Traditional taqasim
Beautiful haunting solos and melodies performed by a traditional Arabic music ensemble,
including instrumental versions of Om Kalthoum's Ana Fintizarik and al-Hob Keda and
Farid al-Atrash's Al-Rabia . The CD also includes a 36 page color booklet about Arabian
musical formats, the instruments and their history, how to dance to a taqsim, biographies
of Om Khalthoum and Farid al-Atrash, in addition to translated lyrics of all the songs.

To order click here.

The Zar - Trance Music for Women
SoT001 - Zar album details
featuring the famous group Awlad Abou al-Gheit. For more info on the Zar in general click here.
To order this album from :

• Rashid.com click here - under "Religious Songs"
• CD Baby click here

Ibrahim Farrah wrote at least 4 articles in 1978 about the Zar for his publication, Arabesque. This was at a time when no one had ever heard of the cult in the United States. He had seen Nadia Gamal do a theatricalized version of the trance dance during her show in 1968. According to him, she was the first oriental dancer to incorporate the dance into a cabaret performance. He loved the head movements, which he had incorporated into his dancing before he ever knew where they came from.

Later, the Zar was adapted into the shows of other famous dancers in Egypt, such as Shoo Shoo Amin and Aiza Sharif, in addition to the repertories of the national Folkloric troupes. To make the dances more dramatic, the performers added frame drum players and incense burners, integral parts of any zar ceremony. There are several videos available in Egypt that show these performances. On one of them Shoo Shoo Amin can be seen dancing to a song which is track #7 on our CD, Ya Benat al-Handasa.

Albums in post production:

• Zar 2 and 3
• Layyali wa Mawwal - by some of Egypt's best beledi singers, including Gamalaat Sheeha 1 + 2 and Hoda al-Simbati, Dina's singer, 2.
• Sayyid Darwish - Egypt's great folk composer from the turn of the last century
• Zuffa from Egypt
  Traditional wedding music
  al-Arayis - from Mohammed Ali Street.
  Eskandarani - from Alexandria
  al-Nubi - from southern Egypt
• Mizmar and Rababa - Ghawazee music
  Country music to dance to!
• Sai'idi - for your cane dances.
• Orientale Series by Sayed Henkesh -
  Traditional 'cabaret' music: no synthesizers - only traditional takht ensemble instruments, an accordion and a tabla! Sayed has played accordion for Egypt's best!

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