Monica~~San Francisco Belly Dance~~Student Center~~Music Recommendations

Recommended music for belly dance students

 Students often ask me what music to buy so they can practice. Here is a list of artists and CD titles
to look for to start off your Middle Eastern and raqs music collection.
Many of these you will have heard in the studio during class.

Where to buy music?
Locally:
You can buy many CDs directly from Monica at the studio.
Amoeba Records on Haight Street has a good Middle Eastern music section.
Samiramis on Mission and 26th carries a variety of Near Eastern music.
Online:
Maqam
Peko
Rashids
Many songs and albums can be found on iTunes and Amazon (and the latter sometimes has freebies).

Listening to Arabic, Turkish and North African music is essential for becoming a belly dancer. Our job is to interpret the music and make it visible.
I encourage you to listen to belly dance and related music even when you are not practicing.

Note: I do not lend CDs out or burn copies for students, as I strongly encourage support of our musicians. We need them to keep making music for us! I have an extensive belly dance music collection that represents nearly 20 years of trial and error, and am always happy to offer more personal recommendations and play samples of different artists in person.
Please feel free to talk to me before or after class about music any time!

Enough chit chat! Onto the lists...

Dancing
Aziza Raks!
Good compilation of songs to dance to.

Cairo Orchestra: A Tribute to Om Kalsoum
The singer's classics in instrumental form for dancers.

Gypsy Fire
Perfect for American belly dance, a blend of Turkey, Armenia, Greece, and New York City!

Hossam Ramzy
Lots of albums to choose from! I recommend his 'best of' series, especially Mohamed Abdul Wahab and Abdul Halim Hafez.
Baladi Plus is also a great album for drilling.

Jalila's Raks Sharki Series
Essential CDs, we use these in class all the time!. Available at Amoeba Records in San Francisco (and often you can find used copies there).

Mary Ellen Donald and Mimi Spencer: Gems of the Middle East Volumes 1, 2 and 3
Wonderful recordings of classic songs--no keyboards here!
order from Mary Ellen directly (and tell her 'hello' from me!)

On Fire
A solid modern compilation of good belly dance tunes.

Rough Guide to Bellydance
A good, easy to find compilation.

Serpentine Music
Oriental dancer Yasmine is recording and publishing some wonderful music.
You can order directly from her.

Yalla (compilation)
Classic compilation of shaabi and al jeel music from Egypt. A favorite album of mine!


Drilling
Jazayer's Eternal Rhythms of the Middle East series
Long tracks featuring different rhythms at slow, medium, and fast paces. Good for cymbal practice or drilling movements

Listening
Ali Arsoy: Karma
A nice selection of songs

Amr Diab
Egyptian and Mediterranean pop.

Arabesque (compilation)
Some danceable tracks, and a great CD.

Fairouz
Lebanese singer. Many compilations and best of albums exist to get you started.

Khaled
The essential rai singer, we use a lot of his music in class for warm-ups. Try albums Sahra and Nissi Nissi.

Mohamed Mounir
One of my favorite Egyptian/Nubian singers. Smart lyrics, good beats.

Musicians of the Nile
Upper Egyptian band, one of my favorites to listen to and dance to.

Natacha Atlas
Fantastic, creative singer.

Om Kaltoum
No list is complete without the diva, the mother of Egyptian music. Get one of her compilations and get lost.
Look for a variety of spellings: Om Kalthoum, Umm Kalsoum, Oum Koltoom...

Rough Guide to the Music of Egypt
A nice, accessible overview of Egyptian music



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