Ba Olek Eh - Amina's Daily Blog
(tell you what)
March 31, 2012
Saturday
Back to Basics
It's always good to get back to the basics and review
and drill. I think I enjoy my beginning classes so much because they allow
me to just relax in the music and do some moving meditation while perfecting
a move.
Today I had a new person in class. She was a Palestinian woman named Kefaya.
"Enough", I asked? "Yes", she said. Her parents had
one son and wanted another and after trying and trying and trying and
trying and getting nothing but beautiful girls, they named their fifth
child Kefaya - Enough! Well, then, they decided to try some more and try
and try and try and try. After another five more beautiful girls Khalas!
That's it, no more, it's over, The end! I never did ask what they named
their ninth girl. Was it Khalas?
My mother was the oldest of twelve children and my mother and her mother,
my grandmother, were pregnant at the same time. My uncle, the twelfth
child was born the same year as I was. My mother lived in an island in
the Philippines in a house her parents shared with another couple. This
other couple happened to be my grandfathers' brother who was married to
my grandmothers' sister - two brothers married two sisters - and they
had nine children; only nine children. Since they were so inter-related
it was like twenty one children having two sets of parents - all living
in a Big House. Yes, I was told it was big. I wonder how big it was? Now
that is what I would call Kefaya - Khalas - Ya Rab - Oh Lord!!!
Touba - Never Again - Abdel Halim
touba - never again, repent, give it up
ana - I
ahebak - love you
bes - but
marra -time
we - and
dee- this
akher - last
ayounu soud - his (her) black (soud) eyes (ayoun)
ya - oh
ain - eye
el - the
alb - heart
rimshi - eyelashes
remoush -eyelashes
geirah - wound
ashan - becauseHome
March 30, 2012
Friday
Bagdad Years and the Dark Ages
Today I received an email from Henry, he used to
be known Hasan, a musician I used to work with at the Bagdad.
He had been reminiscing about the '70's and all of us at the Bagdad who
played music and danced there. After a few email exchanges with him that
included some photos and a couple of you tube clips, I remembered a few
other recent emails I received. They were from other people also reminiscing
about that time - the '70's..
So many memories. So long ago. Memories of another life. Was that really
us? It seems like yesterday but at the same time that life seems to have
belonged to other people. But weren't we those people? It seems like we,
those people, have been feeling sentimental and searching for photos and
video clips to relive those glorious days. Or maybe I should say nights.
Photos? - yes! We can find some of those. But video clips? Well, that's
kind of hard. Video for consumer use was just barely available in the
last part of the 70's. Really, most of the memories of those times were
mostly black and white photos. What about color? Well, color photos were
a luxury and more expensive. Only a few had used color photos and as far
as footage went, only an elite few people had 8 mm movie film cameras
and projectors.
Yes, the '70's, the age of Aquarius and new thinkers was upon us, but
those thoughts and inventions weren't quite ready for us to use - yet.
We really were still in "the dark ages" waiting for computers
and Silicon Valley to grow up and give us new technology. So, as Henry
and Paul and other musicians and dancers wanted to recollect their
past and search for "hard copy" of those experiences, I decided
to start work on a new page in my site devoted exclusively to my/our nights
at the Bagdad. Look soon for a new page called Bagdad Nights.Home
March 29, 2012
Thursday
Hobi Eh
I guess all great Arabic songs have the "H"
word in the lyrics. And tonight was no exception. What is an Arabic song
without the love words.
Tonight we danced to "Enta Fein" Where are you aka "Hobi
Eh" What is the meaning of love- We danced to a karaoke version
of the song with the oud being the voice, then to George Wasoof singing
and finally to Om singing. There are lots of other versions including
my favorite Shaabi version with Mohamed Saad, but tonight it was
going to be very emotional and we wanted to pull the tarab out of our
bodies and give it to our audience.
But first I needed to review the 10/8 and I did! I remembered to review
the dread 10/8 rhythm. We danced to it with just the drum rhythm and then
again to music. And for a classic example of dancing to 10/8, here's
Naima Akef dancing to "Lamma Bada Yeta Thana". Since we're
dancing "Lamma Bada"to death, I chose a song this time that
was more difficult. The other 10/8 songs I've been using have the melody
also doing the 10/8 drum accents, but the song I chose this time had the
melody playing with the drum accents and then counter the accents or completely
oblivious to the rhythm. This is the beauty of Arabic music. The music,
the melody, can go in and out of the rhythm. It's magical how it so neatly
corresponds and then takes a turn and loses itself in a separate journey
only to eventually meander its way back to the "one". It's kind
of like being hypnotized and then waking up.
And when we woke up, we were asking about love. What love did you come
to talk about?
Hobi
Eh - Om Kalthoum
hob - love
eh - what
enta - you , m.
gai - come
tetkalam - you talk - words
aaref - know
abla - before
lama - when
beinak we bein - between you and me - ak-you, m.
we - and
hawaak - your love, ak=you, m.
kida - therefore, like this Home
March 28, 2012
Wednesday
Cleaning house
Husain had mentioned that he was "cleaning
house" and wanted to get rid of a lot of stuff. Well, he mentioned
it to the wrong person. So today Gregory and I made two carload
trips from Husain's place to ours to give his stuff a new home.
Now what do we do with it all? I got some nice storage containers but
also got lots of stuff to go in them. Gregory got some nice tools including
multiples of tools. You can never have enough? Yikes! We did tell Husain
that he was welcome to borrow back his tools anytime he wanted to use
them. I wonder if we will just be storing them for him for a while or
is he really giving them up.
Last year he was busy making ouds and fixing stringed and wooded instruments like violins and my duf. But I think that he found it to be a lonely occupaiton, so he's decided to give it up....at least temporarily. Judging by the number of ouds and violins in various stages of repair that he still has, I think he's still in the business, but maybe most of the tools will reside at my house? Who knows. he said he might continue if he found a studio somewhere and could hire an apprentice or two.
One interesting item that he's working on is a flat oud. It will be equipped
with a programmable Midi file - kind of like what they use on the electric
keyboards. It's not his technology design, that belongs to someone else,
but he'll do the oud body. I saw it and it's pretty teeny. It'll probably
- for sure - be heavier than a traditional oud, bu tit sure will be smaller
- like a couple of inches wide instead of over a foot wide. No hunching
over this type of oud, but then you'll have to be a computer programmer
in order to play it.Home
March 27, 2012
Tuesday
Recreating old dances with new choreography
Pepper wants the Aswans to do a special
show for Carnival of Stars.
I guess we will try to. Now I have to figure out what that special show
will be. Well, when I was at the Fabric District in L.A. last month I
did buy some nice fabric for the Aswans. I guess this is going to be the
excuse to turn the fabric into something special. I just hope I got enough
fabric. I'm sure I'll end up having to get more fabric or trim or something,
but it should be fun designing new costumes. I wonder if it'll be fun
cutting and sewing new costumes. It's fun to do it for one, but when I
have to do it for the group, it starts to get a bit tedious. I guess there'll
be a lot of TV watching. I don't like to sew unless I'm doing something
else and watching movies (or rather listening to them) is a good excuse
to sew.
I remember quite a while ago when I was busy being a sweat shop sewing
factory (of one) while trying to meet an Aswan costume deadline, I got
so caught up watching a movie that I forgot that I was sewing and ended
up sewing my thumb.
Fortunately I didn't break the sewing machine, only broke the needle,
which got stuck in my thumb. Should I have to say that it sort of hurt?
It really got stuck in my thumb and try as I could, I couldn't remove
it with pliers. So I had to drive myself to the non-emergency ER to have
them remove it. I guess it really did sort of hurt, but when they gave
me a shot of Novocain to remove the needle, that hurt worse! So now, I
make it a point to only listen to movies if I'm sewing on a machine. I
guess that's why I don't like to use power tools. Drills are ok - but
saws? No! I think I want to keep all my fingers.
As far as the dance part of the show goes, I think I'm going to merge
the old with the new and recreate an old dance with all totally new choreography.
Since I hardly ever danced with the Aswans, I don't really remember most
of the choreographies anyway. I'm hoping to give myself about a week to
get the music together and then start working on the choreography. So
this week I'll be listening to oldies. Isn't that what I usually listen
to anyway?Home
March 26, 2012
Monday
Everything from your blessings
It seems that it's time to start another session of shaabi
music. I've been listening to the new stuff and getting new ideas for
choreographies.
On Saturday I played a few shaabi songs and tonight - not my shaabi night
- I got requests for more shaabi music. So, of course I readily complied.
As I pulled out my shaabi music I remembered some of my favorite ones.
One of my all time favorites starts with the words "tishrab eh".
This is a pretty helpful phrase. What do you want to drink? On Mondays
we have a flight attendant in class. OK - figure this one out - ahwa -
shai - ow - ana? Yay, beinu we beinak (between you and me) you got it!
Ana aiza ahwa. Wenta?
Kuloh
min kheirak Everything from your blessings - Saad el Soghayar
kuloh - everything, all
min - from
kheirak - blessings - ak=you, m.
tishrab - you drink - t=you
eh - what
damaae - tears
garah - wounds
zul - indignities
nar - fire
beinu we beinak - between you and me
ya rab - oh lord - ya=oh
lessa - still
aiz, m -aiza, f. - aizeen, pl - want
wenti - we=and, enti= you, i=f.
wenta - we=and, enta=you, a=m.
March 25, 2012
Sunday
Everything on top of everything
After Aswat practice today Husain and I
went directly to Al Masri for our performance with Mohamed Amin.
I'm really glad I put on my performance makeup at noon because when we
walked into Al Masri, the show was ready to start and Mohamed was already
playing. Whoops. We tried, but we just couldn't get there on time. Almost,
but not quite. I sure wish Aswat practice was back in the city. I really
HATE having to drive to the East Bay twice a week for rehearsals. Once
I'm there it's ok, even though it's cold in the building.
Spring is here so it should start warming up soon and it's really an experience
playing with an ensemble of over 20 musicians and a like number of singers.
So what if I travel from San Francisco to Oakland for practice? There
are some members who travel farther - like from Sacramento and Modesto.
It seems that the first part of our show at Al Masri was getting adjusted
to playing back-up ornamentation to Mohamed's keyboard drum program. I'm
just not sure what and how I should be playing. But it sure is great to
not have the pressure of carrying the whole rhythm section. I get to practice
what I want and choose what instrument I want to play - tabla, duf or
tambourine and play just the fills if I want. And it's nice that Husain
doesn't have to carry the melody.
As usual we started the evening with Husain singing Adaweya's "Kullo
aala Kullo". This song is destined to make the charts again as
it shows up here, there and everywhere. I forgot to mention that at Aswat
practice Husain was singing some classic muwashah type song and forgot
the words so he just snuck in a few lines of "Kullo aala Kullo".
Everything on top of everything. Adaweya, the singer who was banned from
the Egyptian airwaves, sang the songs of the people.
At the end of the night the audience got up to dance to an Abdel Wahab
song. Abdel Wahab, the father of modern Arabic music, responsible for
introducing foreign instruments and foreign melodic influences to traditional
Arabic music.
At Al Masri we found ending the night with Abdel Wahab to be totally appropriate
as our audience, both men and women, were jumping and doing Russian follksteps
including squat kicks. Since the men, who admitted that they were Russian,
told us they'd be back next month with their dancing shoes, Husain and
I started a list of even more Abdel Wahab songs with the Russian feel.
Our next show at Al Masri on April 29 should be pretty lively. Home
March 24, 2012
Saturday
Organizing
This morning I started transferring the music that
Leila of Cairo gave me last month at BDUC. It's tuk
tuk music. That is, she got her driver to get shaabi music from tuk
tuk drivers and she put it on two DVDs for me. I think there's probably
about 12 - 15 or more CDs worth of music. It's so much stuff that I can't
figure out how to start processing all this music. I still have so much
stuff from a flash drive that Debbie gave me a while back that
I'm still trying to make "my own". Don't know if I can keep
up with all the new stuff. As soon as it's out, it's old as newer stuff
takes its place.
But what's most exciting about this music is that it really is part of
my audial history of shaabi music. I just have to figure out how to catalog
it. It seems that the DJ Muled/Sufi craze is still with us in Cairo
but has probably moved on to a much more secular genre than the muled/sufi
of Mahmoud el Leithy or Mahmoud el Huseiny. Mohamed Ragab
has taken over the Mahmoud el Leithy style of singing but while keeping
it trance-like, it has a more hardened quality. Along with him and big
name DJs like DJ Figo and DJ Haha there are so many more
DJs out there doing rave-like or Cairo rap. I just can't keep up. And
I still don't know how to categorize all this.
It's definitely a sub-genre of Shaabi, but a long way away from dear old
now subdued Ahmed Adaweya. He now almost fits the category of Frank
Sinatra of shaabi. Well, we'll see where all this goes.
A year or so ago I couldn't stomach some of this new music, but like a
virus, it's growing on me. I just wish I could understand all the words.
It's hard enough learning "songtalk" in regular Egyptian dialect,
but now there's the 'hara" neighborhood specific slang to contend
with also. Don't know if I can find any people here in San Francisco who
can help me out with this.
How to organize and catalog and keep a record on file? That really is
the story of my life. I've worked for over thirty years for one architecture
firm and my main job has been to archive their work. But when it really
comes down to it - why just last Thursday. two days ago I was reminded
- they, the architects, don't look anything up, they just ask me - "Do
you remember when...?What happened to...?" Anyway, when it comes
down to it, that's exactly how I archive my music and my videos. This
is bad. I'd better not get Alzheimer's.
In the meantime though, I will continue to try to figure out how to organize
and cross-catalog my music and film. Please don't tell me to rely on itunes.
I did that once and the computer crashed and I lost it all... the organization
and the music. Yes, I had back-ups but the best back-up and quality is
the physical CDs and the brain. But maybe not my brain. Home
March 23, 2012
Friday
Arab Film Festival
The Arab Film Festival won't be happening for another few months
- or you could say that although it just happened, the behind the scenes
for the next festival is happening now.
They are starting to accept submissions for the festival that happens
in the fall. I've done volunteer work for the festival off and on over
the years. I used to help by collating and stuffing envelopes. This is
mindless work that I really enjoy because it gives me an excuse to space
out and let my imagination go. Lately my job also includes screening the
submissions for blips, sticks and other formatting and viewing problems.
Of course my mind wanders when I do this and sometimes I think of the
Giza Awards. This
was a film festival that Gregory and I co-founded and hosted for
eleven years. Our mission statement was "The Giza Academy of Music
and Legends of Dance honors dancers and videographers who have furthered
the art of Middle Eastern Dance through film and video. Documenting and
sharing our dance provides opportunities for learning, showcasing and
furthering our art."
We wanted to encourage dancers and videographers to take care in documenting
and preserving their art for posterity. This came about when I was working
on preserving some of my own old footage such as the joint show I mentioned
in yesterday's blog where I realized how quickly video deteriorates and
joins the category of the "nearly invisible". But now with the
advent of the digital age, the popularity and use of the internet and
you tube, this no longer seems necessary. Also we discovered that most
artists who submitted to us were really interested in their own personal
commercial endeavors and not always really interested in the preservation
of the dance; only in elevating themselves. Therefore we discontinued
the Giza Awards knowing that you tube was taking over the job of encouraging
dancers to share and preserve the dance.
I am, though, still interested in the idea of honoring those who truly
are dedicated artists and documentarians. It may be in the back burner
of my mind but not for long. In the meantime I have continued my passions
with the Giza
Festival, a film series of mainstream and hard to find documentaries
on the Middle East with a prime focus on the dance, the music and the
culture. Look out for the next series. I already have a new collection
waiting. I'm just working on when I can find time to show them.Home
March 22, 2012
Thursday
Wala Zaman
Over the years Linda Grondahl has been the official unofficial
photographer for all the local dancers and also for me and The Aswan
Dancers. This was before digital and now that digital seems to have
completely taken over recording history and events, Linda is spending
hours, days, weeks, months and even years giving all this hard copy visual
history a new life in the virtual files of the internet. Every once in
a while she sends me special memories. Thank you, Linda!
Today those memories were of a show co-produced by Jamila Salimpour
and me. One day we talked and decided that we wanted to collaborate, show
off our schools and especially our two daughters - her Suhaila,
the dancer and my Susu, the drummer.
The show opened with the song "Wala Zaman" by Metkal
Kanawi. When I recalled that I had a DVD of this show, I decided to
show it in class tonight. Although I was disappointed that video degenerates
- please do all you can to preserve your media - I decided to show the
nearly invisible DVD of the dance anyway. It featured professional dancers
from Jamila's school and my Aswan Dancers.
The song seemed very organized, linear, square, and precise. I commented
to the class that I didn't choreograph the dance, but the girls all said
that they already knew that. They remarked that it was too perfect and
counted to be my choreography. Yes, I agreed. I do prefer "controlled
chaos" rather than precise clock-like moves as in turn to 12 o'clock,
3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock. No, that's not for me. I don't like to
count, I like to listen to the music and use that as a guide.
I wonder - am I doing them a disservice in not being so precise? I don't
know. But I guess if they want to count, then they can go somewhere else.
Well, I can count and they should be able to count too - like count to
10 as in 10/8 - but really the dance needs to come from somewhere else
other than counting and the head. It needs to come from within - like
from the heart - it needs to feel the pulse. The body just needs to know
by feeling the counts - not by counting the counts.
When quizzed, I also discovered that outside of one "old-timer",
virtually no one knew of Metkal Kanawi or had only "heard
of" him and his songs.
Well - I need to change that. I thought that I was teaching that by occasionally
playing Saidi and other folkloric songs and rhythms, but I need to be
more detailed in presenting the history of the dance and its folkloric
roots. I can't presume what people know without me actually giving more
history and background to the music and musicians.
I think I'm pretty good when it comes to classic songs and "club"
music - as in Arabic club, not 'club', club, but I need to also do this
with folkloric music.
I started out as an Arabic club dancer, then formed the Aswans with the
focus being to showcase folkloric music and dance but more recently have
been into Arabic club music and dance again - as in classic, traditional,
pop, shaabi. But I've neglected the folkloric in class. I think I forget
that even though the girls want to learn how to just do "belly dance"
that they really need to know the roots. It's time to go more than 360
degrees. Or maybe start all over again.Wala
Zaman - It's been so long.
wala - or not
zaman - time, as in the past
ya - oh
helwa - sweetie, beauty
mashuftak - haven't seen you - ma=neg, ak=you, m.
garalak - what happened to you - ak= you, m.
min - from, since
ariftak - known you - ak= you, m.
kalemni - talk to me - ni=me
haram aleik - shame on you, this is unfair
haram - forbidden
aleik- on you Home
March 21, 2012
Wednesday
The munchies
Aswat was fun tonight. Not everyone showed up and that's too bad because
it was warm for a change. Finally the weather seems to be changing and
our practice space was even warmer inside than outside. And it seemed
that people were on the same page as I was - that is feeling munchy.
Husain brought chocolates, Susu had chips, I had chocolate
Easter eggs and Najwa brought enough Taco Bell tacos to
feed more than Aswat.
Naturally we couldn't let all that go to waste so Susu and I generously
offered to take the rest home for our breakfast, lunch and dinner for
the rest of the week. Of course we decided to let Omar, the director
take a few home too. He also took all the hot sauce so he could feel inspired
to write more musical arrangements. Hot and spicy?
On the way home Husain tried to pin us down to another recording session.
Guess what!?! He thinks that real drums and tambourines sound better than
keyboard programmed ones. ilhamduli'llah!!
Husain wrote a few original songs and wants us to do the rhythms for them.
This sounds like fun. So now, just to try to coordinate our time so we
can get to this project. I'm pretty excited about it. Original music for
a change. Finally. Knowing Husain, we will probably have to get into the
jurgina mode. After all, what's Iraqi music without jurgina.? For sure
his songs will be traditional sounding. No fusion sounds will come out
of the Pasha Band. Well maybe a few Abdel Wahab inspired
ones will leak though.Home
March 20, 2012
Tuesday
If you don't use it, you lose it.
Went to Ayman's today to work on another song. This time I think
I knew 95% of the words in the song but I have trouble BIG TIME in hearing
the words. I don't think it's my hearing; I think that even though I have
been around this language for decades, I still can't distinguish some
sounds - especially when the words run into other words I often don't
realize it and I hear something else. A little Arabic is worse than no
Arabic.I have a number of song books written in Arabic and if I listen
to a song while reading the Arabic, I can hear the words; however I need
both the audio and the visual.. If I only read the song in Arabic script,
especially if there is no voweling, then sometimes I am totally lost.
Learning Arabic is such a long, slow, tedious process for me but my biggest
problem is that I'm not consistent. I just don't practice my reading and
writing often enough. I should be doing it daily; however sometimes weeks
go by and I don't study at all. It's time to quit being lazy and time
to allot scheduled time to reading and writing. Also I think I need to
pull out my language CDs again. It's so true - if you don't use it, you
lose it! I should know. I'm always lost.
Since Gregory does most of the cooking, I've almost forgotten how
to cook. I think the last time I cooked a meal, I had to consult a cookbook.
And I used to cook daily for over 20 years. It's so much easier to just
pull out a take-out menu and let my fingers do the talking/cooking rather
than to let my brain do the work. If you don't use it, you lose it! But,
now I'm on first name basis and have VIP cards for some Chinese restaurants
that deliver.
I've also had this problem with learning Italian. Bianca and I
used to practice speaking in cafes - especially the North Beach coffee
houses - but life got in the way of our practice sessions and the last
time we got together we both felt we had to start from page one again.
According to Herbert Gold in his book "Bohemia - Where
Art, Angst, Love and Strong Coffee Meet", an Arab scholar said
that "coffee made his brain 'nimble'". He goes on to tell that
in Mecca a holy man "noticed men having fun, chatting, laughing,
drinking qahwa". And as a result, in the year 1511, the drinking
of coffee was forbidden. Well, Bianca and I have had our share of coffee
with the hopes of making our brains nimble and tongues agile in the language
of the country shaped like a boot, but we've gotten nowhere except to
experience a bit of the caffeine jitters. Quite possibly we need to crack
the books too. If you don't use it, you lose it! Alha'ooni!
Thanks to Laura, I'm able to keep up with my Spanish a little.
When she calls me, she blabbers in rapid Spanish. I'm too meek to reply
in Spanish so I do what I used to do with my Grandmother - I answer in
English. But now we've taken to communicating on email and texting on
the phone. For some reason, I don't feel shy when writing, so I answer
in Spanish. Hopefully, I won't lose it. Now, I can only get the nerve
to speak. Ojala.
Maybe I should say I'm a total dilettante when it comes to language -
even English. I want to learn different languages - I never give up -
but I just don't seem to have the will power to commit to study.
Another language I hope someday to learn is Chinese. (Maybe just a little.
It'll help with my kung fu movies.) I've been reading this book called
"Dreaming in Chinese, Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love and Language"
written by Deborah Fallows. In the book Deborah Fallows documents
her struggles with learning the language while living in China for three
years. She narrates her language misadventures with anecdotes of humor
and wonder as she describes her confusion and frustration with the words.
This is how I feel with Arabic. I've never lived in an Arabic country,
but I've sure lived among Arabic speaking people for enough years. I just
wish I wasn't so shy about speaking. If you don't use it, you lose it!
But how can I lose something I never found?
El Toba - Abdel
Halim Hafez
wa - and
ana - I, me
kol, all
el, the
toba, repent, give it up
ya - oh
ain - eye
wahsahny- I miss
aiyounu- their, his (her) eyes (u=their- too polite to say her)
soda- black
ya boya- an exclamation - (ya abu= oh dad) the ya in boya=my
layali - my nights, i=my Home
March 19, 2012
Monday
Seashells in the Sahara
I like Mondays. It's the start of a new week and I get
myself on track with my so-called diet. Well, I don't really have a specific
diet that I follow, but on Mondays I go back to my trail mix which I think
is better than the junk food I do on weekends.
Also Mondays are always finished off with my drum class. Today I started
the day with a private lesson, off to my four-hour work day and then my
two dances classes and the drum class. And to finish off the day a perfect
day I spent some time and dinner with Gregory and watched a mindless
but exciting disaster movie. What's left for a perfect day? Well, I guess
I'll just fall asleep with a good book.
Mondays also are the days that I try to catch up on my dance and music
business - like returning phone calls, making plans for future events
and making sure that nothing's double-booked.
Lately Gregory has been pretty busy working on what he wants to do with
his beads and ethnic jewelry. We're pretty opposite people. I just jump
in the middle and try to figure out what to do once I'm in the mess of
everything and Gregory likes to plan, plan and plan. Well, his planning
stage is almost over and so now will be the time for me to jump in and
see what I can do to help him out - if he'll let me. He's in the middle
of organizing various categories of ethnic jewelry for use and display.
Most probably the display will be on the internet on a new website probably
connected to mine. I think that he will organize it kind of like a silk
road but with the beads and jewelry starting in southeast Asia, working
through Asia and India, over the Himalayas, back down through the Caucasus
into the Middle East, through Egypt and ending in Morocco.
The plan is to eventually put up information on the trade routes and the
ornaments of the dance. This should be an interesting project. I hope
when I jump in I don't mess up the road. Maybe I should just stick to
eating trail mix. Home
March 18, 2012
Sunday
ADHD
I arrived at Aswat practice in a good mood and
for some reason I got in a weird mood. I was the second percussionist
to arrive and the group was already playing. I remembered that Faisal
was in L.A. today so I decided to play the tambourine instead of the
duf. I am not sure what I want to play in the ensemble. I'll probably
play the duf but I want to play it between my legs Lebanese style rather
than holding it with one hand, Egyptian style. I don't know if there's
any special technique or protocol when playing with other dufs and I wonder
if anyone else knows, or if it's just hit and miss. I've played the duf
this way since Tropigala days but always just went with my instinct.
I guess that's what happens when one doesn't really consider oneself a
musician. I guess I just have always considered myself a percussionist
by default. I know I need to change my attitude because, after all, I
have been playing percussion constantly in bands for over 20 years. But
thinking I'm just a dancer and a dance teacher gets in the way of taking
myself seriously as a working percussionist. And this attitude has got
to stop because in reality I really get a lot more gigs these days as
a percussionist than I get as a dancer. Like every weekend.
Anyway - my weird mood. First I told the other percussionist to play louder
and then I decided that I didn't want to play the rhythms exactly as we're
supposed to. I think that makes the sound too stiff. I guess that's why
I chose to play the tambourine. I felt like making a little noise. Of
course there's the dynamics of it all to be considered in relation to
the ensemble and the choir.
The percussionists especially need to be sensitive to the instrumental
soloists and the choir or we can very easily overpower. Maybe I'm just
used to playing in loud club situations where I never feel I'm miked loud
enough - but I am. Or maybe it's because I always wanted to be a Sabah
rather than a Feiruz. I don't know if you know what I'm talking
about, but if you've ever seen Sabah in concert you'll know she's always
moving about, dancing and very animated dressed in an outrageous outfit
with super high stilt like heels - even at her age. Blondes always have
more fun! Now, if you see Feiruz, why she's a Lady in a proper gown -
usually traditional and brocaded - and she stands stiff as a board. Well,
and what about me? Maybe I'm just not cut out for a serious black tie
type concert. I just want to dance in my seat - move and sway. I guess
this is what old dancers do when they almost stop dancing. They really
don't, they pick up a riq and just let the ADHD take over! Home
March 17, 2012
Saturday
Maria
Today is one of my favorite days. I spent the day in the
studio teaching class - private and otherwise. Imagine that - I get paid
to do what I like doing best. Drilling and dancing and I even get to choose
my own favorite songs to dance to. Today I chose to use some oldies. Oldies
for the oldy. Well, my new favorite song is Faiza Ahmed's "Ana
Alby Aeik Mayal".
It's particularly meaningful to me because it was one of Maria Celado's
favorite songs who most recently lived in San Francisco before she died
of an aneurism a couple of years ago. I knew Maria for many years. Many
people called her Maria of New Orleans because she called New Orleans
her home for years. But she really was a Bay Area dancer who moved to
New Orleans in her 20's only to return after the flood. She was loved
by all her friends that she had here and in New Orleans and songs like
"Ana Alby Aleik Mayal" will always keep her alive in our hearts.
We miss you, Maria.
Ana alby aleik mayal - My heart is fond of you
wa - and
mafish - negative, there aren't
enta - you
bass - only
Habibi - my beloved
mahma - no matter
aineyya - my eyes, ain = eye
aktar - more
shwayya- a little Home
March 16, 2012
Friday
Garage Sale someday
I started taking my garage apart again and realized how
much stuff I have in there that doesn't even belong to me. I could open
a store with all the costumes that I have. I wonder if these dancers who
ask me to sell or store them even remember where they are. It might be
time to have a belly dance flea market soon.
Of course now isn't the time since now is Rakassah and people are
into buying new costumes. How many dancers are there who will be shopping
this weekend. I can't even imagine. Hundreds? Thousands? One problem with
selling used costumes is that in general most costumes are selling for
much less than they were selling for a few years ago.
My first Madame Abla Egyptian costume.
Mohamed Amin, Amina and George Dabai at the Bagdad
I remember when the first Egyptian costumes arrived in San Francisco. They were Madam Ablas and Madam Hekmets and the price was $1,000 or more per costume. Then Bella from Turkey costumes came and even more money was demanded.
Now the costumes sell for a few hundred dollars with sale costumes at
even less than $200. It's no wonder that these used costumes don't sell.
The seller wants to recoup at least a portion of what she paid for them
and the buyer wants something new, modern and stylish. Yes, the new, modern
and stylish can be bought for less than the price of a used costume. What
to do? I guess do what I do. That is do nothing. Home
March 15, 2012
Thursday
Counting to 10
Tonight before working on a song for performance class
I first I decided to drill the 10/8 rhytm again. Well, we ended up reviewing
the pieces we used last week and the week before. Finally we used another
10/8 section of yet another magensi and worked on the transition between
the rhythm preceding it and the 10/8.
I guess this is all part of the big scheme of knowing and feeling comfortable
with all the various rhythms in the dance and especially the odd rhythms
that appear when least expected. I showed a clip for Feiruz that
included a little dance tableau in her piece called "Andaloussiat"
to give everyone an idea of the style of dancing that could be done with
mawashah poetry. I think everyone got the idea. Dance old fashioned. Or
at least they got the idea that 10/8 is connected to a style of music
called samai (listen) and that other odd rhythms are usually involved.
Don't know if this is too much information for a belly dance class but
I think it's important to give more background than to count ONE 2-3 FOUR
5 SIX SEVEN EIGHT 9-10. Well at least that's how many fingers and thumbs
we have on both our hands. So if all else fails.......Home
March 14, 2012
Wednesday
Creating the imperfect live sound
Susu and I had a date with Husain today.
We went over to his place before Aswat practice to put down our
percussion tracks on the Pasha Band's "Ansak"
recording. We didn't have that much time since we couldn't start until
Susu got off work from her day job, but we managed to get started. We
compared the original, which was Younes on violin, Jalal
on kanun, Husain on oud and the keyboard playing the rhythm sections.
With us adding tabla, riq and cymbals we made the piece so much fuller.
We - Susu and I - want to redo our parts but Husain likes them as is.
Because it's not "perfect" it sounds more "live". We'll see. In a way, I think I agree with Husain, but maybe we can record our parts again and make more perfect imperfect tracks. Plus we need to get together to add another track or two with the duf sounds. This is pretty interesting how all this can be done on the computer now.
It sure is different than when Susu recorded her Cairo Cats cassette many years ago. Part of her "Dancing Drums - Live at the Giza Club" cassette was done live in order to create that live sound. I wonder how "live" we can make this computer recording sound. It's still all in the baby stage right now but I feel pretty confident that something really good will come of all of this
Aswat practice was divided tonight. The Aswat Women's Ensemble
practiced on the main floor and the rest of the Aswat Ensemble - the guys
- and me - practiced in the banquet room. I played with the guys because
I chose to not play in the women's ensemble as they were performing on
Saturday morning. I didn't want to take the chance of being late for my
own dance classes especially since I had cancelled last Saturday's classes
in order to teach the workshops.
We worked on another Abdel Wahab medley. It's sounds kind of weird
to me. At least right now it does when we're trying to memorize the order
of the medley. Omar, our director, chose several songs to be linked
together. Each song, or I should say, each little section of a song, was
written for a different singer.
The medley, or cocktail will show how versatile Abdel Wahab was in creating
and composing for so many different singers. Now we have to be good enough
to link all of these songs together in a smooth way.
This is when I wish I could read music. The musicians just read the music
and smoothly go from song to song, but Faisal and I have to remember
what song comes next. Duh! I should write it down. I don't have to read
music, I just need to be able to read. But then, it's kind of fun - challenging
- to just be able to remember. Good exercise for the brain. Home
March 13, 2012
Tuesday
Cute song
Because I took off work a couple of days to spend with
Debbie while she was here, I had to go to work today. I'm really lucky
to have the job I have. They really support my dance life and allow me
the freedom to rearrange my schedule to suit my artistic needs.
Of course I've also managed to pair down my time at work to about 8 hours
a week - two 4 hour work days. Some people may ask why even bother. Well,
besides the money, which obviously can't be that much, it gets me out
and about and out of my pajamas - at least 8 hours a week. Today aside
from having to get up and get dressed, I really looked forward to the
routine of doing my four hours of work. It's nice to not think about dance
and music 24/7...at least after an intensive weekend like I just finished.
At Aswan practice we worked on the same old same old song. I'm
getting frustrated with myself and wondering why I can't finish the stupid
song since I finished it at one time enough to have performed it a number
of times. But I know why. I/we forgot parts of it and we haven't performed
it in quite a while.
Because it's an old song, I should just put it on the shelf, but I'm too
stubborn and want to rearrange it because I like the song. It's really
a cute song. Cute songs should have cute choreographies. And judging by
the list of you tube choreographies, an awful lot of dancers think this
song "Tabel
ya Issam" is too cute also. The you tube clip I chose is really
just the first in a line of many, many clips.
My disclaimer is that I just chose this particular clip because it was
the first on the page. It's probably one of the better ones or at least
it has more hits than many of them. The key to a nice choreography is
to choose a nice, likeable song. Tell me, how can you not like this song?
It's so cute! Home
March 12, 2012
Monday
10/8
Dropped Debbie and her suitcase off at Osha,
her favorite Thai restaurant so she could visit with a friend and leave
for the airport from there. I got to go home and try to straighten up
the studio before class.
One of my high school students told me that her teacher was coming to
class. She said that her teacher had seen me over the weekend playing
with the band. ?? When she came in, I recognized her as one of the customers
at the Melody. She had stayed till the bitter end - 3:15 by Georges'
watch. She seemed to enjoy the class and I wonder if she'll be back next
week or if this class was just residue enthusiasm from the Melody. We'll
see.
In the next class and in drum class we spent more time working on 10/8.
I don't know why it seems to be so hard for some of the class. I found
it hard when I first became aware of its existence, but once I figured
it out, it really wasn't that hard.
Now I'm wondering if it has just become a mental block or if I'm a really
bad teacher or if it just isn't an intuitive thing like 4/4 is. But it's
all divisible by 2 and I'm not even that good in math.
Now as for 9/8....that, to me, was hard to learn. I just couldn't get
that one at all. At least not until Saida, aka Andy (Jalal's
wife who I used to work with at the Bagdad) taught me how to count
it. She said just clap 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 and a half, 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 and a half
and so on. Well, I did and I never ever had a problem again. So, I guess
I'll just keep working on this 10/8 until everyone not only understands
it, but also feels it. Home
March 11, 2012
Sunday
PenaPachamama
My favorite part of this workshop was the dance part.
I guess that's why I'm a professional dancer and dance teacher and not
a professional "talker".
A little over a year ago I performed at a club called Bollywood
and it adjoined
a really nice beautiful dance studio - a nice space with a great wooden
floor and a wall of mirrors. When I was trying to find a studio for our
workshop and the two studios I usually use were booked, I remembered this
place.
Luckily it was free and so I was happy. Hurray, a new dance studio in
the neighborhood. Well, it worked but I don't know if I'll use it again.
I had to bring my own boom box and almost had to bring my own electricity.
Finally some of the girls convinced the management to supply us with long
power cables so we could light up the place and we managed, or should
I say, tried to heat the place by "body heat" and jogging in
place. It kind of reminded me of those clubs that depend on entertainment
and then don't provide space for it. This place is a beautiful dance studio
but it's also used as a storage bin and it doesn't even have electricity
or lights. To be fair, they had a long extension cord with power that
they brought in from the cafe that connected to portable lights. I really
must thank the girls for being good sports and hanging in there and I
guess I thank the lord for a pretty temperate day. It could have been
colder.
We got through our classes and I had fun and forgot about the cold and
I hope everyone else did too. Then it was off to PenaPachamama
to close the workshop with some great music and dancing.
What can I say about Pachamama that wouldn't sound like a broken record.
I like the place - it feels like home to me and we get all these extra
musicians. So many that we can hardly move. Fernando on drum set,
Husain on bass, Khader on keyboard, Susu on tabla,
Georges on violin, Gabriel on guitar and me on tambourine
and duf. Tonight Faisal stopped in so Faisal was on percussion
too.
As I just said, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but it was
fun. The music was good and the dancers were too. Especially since I was
one of the them, heheh. Well, really I got to dance this time because
I was in the workshop. How could Georges not let me this time? Well, he
tried by sticking me in the end when usually most of the people are gone.
But we foiled him! They didn't leave. Was it storming outside? But besides
me, the good dancers were Debbie, all the way from Cairo, Ziva
from Petaluma, Kim and Khalilah from the East Bay and Kat
visiting from Los Angeles.
So I guess I am like a broken record plugging the place I work at. But
if you want to see and hear for yourself, we'll be back April 15. So do
your taxes early and celebrate - use your refunds, if you have them -
by being with us at Pachamama on the 15th. However, if the 15th is a Sunday,
then don't we get an extra day and the tax deadline becomes the 16th?
Don't hold me to it, but I think that's how it works. Home
March 10, 2012
Saturday
Dum dum and dumber - no that's not a rhythm
Today was a long day. It started at 10 a.m. (ashra) in my studio
-aala wahda we nuss (on the one and a half ) finally - and ended
in the wee hours (saa, s. saat, pl. ) of the morning (subh, sabah
el kheir, good morning) at the Melody Cafe.
So at 9:30 a.m. (tesaa we nuss) Debbie and I were ready!
She had planned the workshop to the half hour (nussi sana) and
miraculously we - all four (arabaa) of us - Debbie, me,
Susu and Georges - stayed pretty much on schedule. We had a
few drop-ins at the door that threw me off a little as I thought I had
assembled more than enough folders yet I still had to share my folder
with Debbie so I guess we had a super filled room. Also I had set out
a few extra chairs but it seemed that by the afternoon (baad id duhr)
we had people standing or sitting on the stairs.
I had forgotten that Susu and Georges who were scheduled for 2-5 p.m.
(itneen - khamsa) needed chairs also. And although I had set
aside enough frame drums, it was fortunate that Susu thought to bring
a bag full of extras. But in spite of the crowd, everything seemed to
run smoothly including just enough time (wa't) for snack and
bathroom breaks.
After Debbie and I finished our parts - the history, the biographies,
a general overview of the music and the instruments, the lyrics - the
words, and translations, and listening to both songs for words, phrasing,
instruments, rhythm and mood - Susu and Georges arrived ready to teach
their part.
We had decided to let them do whatever they wanted to do and had no idea
what that would be. Well, it was great to hear them reinforce different
subjects that we had covered, and it was even greater to have the workshop
end with everyone playing the frame drums with Susu and Georges leading
on tabla and violin.
This ended the workshop part of the day (el youm), but by no
means did that mean the workshop was over. There was an option to stay
to watch videos and were pleased that many chose to stay. Of course this
was the fun part for me as I got to play tech person and put on various
clips that we had chosen.
This ranged from showing our songs - "Khaliko Shahdin"
and "Alli Garra" in concert with Faiza and Oulaya,
to watching select dancers through the ages plus a Turkish dancer
performing what not to do in a performance. I'll keep these DVDs aside
for a while so I can show bits in other classes from time to time. A picture
truly is worth a thousand - alf - words.
And finally we ended up at The Melody Cafe for a buffet dinner and entertainment.
Georges and band (Georges, Husain, Susu, Khader and me)
were the musical entertainment with Hana and Kim as the
visual dance entertainment. It was a treat to see a diverse crowd. Visiting
from Paris, France were Leila Haddad of Tunisia and her husband
Biram of Senegal. Leila comes every year to teach and perform at
Rakassah. There was a table of Arab visual and animation artists
celebrating an art opening. Other tables were filled with Nabila Mango,
Duraid Musleh and Omar Abbad of Aswat and Zawaya
and other miscellaneous Aswat musicians and friends.
All was fun and lively until the crowd started thinning around midnight
(nuss il leil) when we played our last (akher) song
and and packed up to leave. My mikes and stands were already in the car
and the drums were happily zipped in their bags waiting to be carried
out and in came the next shift - new party of people - including Maram,
the new Egyptian singer in town.
Common sense should have said "Get me out of here!", but then
we heard that Hana had changed back into her costume and was going to
dance again.
OK - Georges said, we'll be polite and play twenty (ashreen)
more minutes (da'ee'a, s. da'ayik, pl.) and then leave. Hah!
Of course we didn't really believe that even though we wanted to.
What can I say - a couple or more hours later - after Hana danced again,
Essam sang, Maram sang, the place got filled with cigarette and
shisha smoke and the guys did their obligatory dabkes - yes, a couple
(itneen) or more hours later - Susu and I told Georges it was time
to go home. Yes, this is the last song and we out-polite-ed everyone and
managed to finally escape.
Only twenty more minutes? Once, it's OK - a second (tany) time
- then we're just plain dumb. Let's see what the future holds in store
and see if we're smart or just plain dumb. As smart as I am, I think everyone
- this band - is too polite and that's where dumb begins (ibtada).
wahed - one m. wahedeh, f.
itneen - two
talata - three
arbaa - four
khamsa - five
setta - six
sabaa - seven
tamanya - eight
tesaa - nine
ashra - ten
hadasher - eleven (1+10)
etnasher - twelve (2+10)
talatasher - thirteen (3+10)
arbaatasher - fourteen - etc.
khamastasher - fifteen
settasher - sixteen
sabaatasher - seventeen
tamantasher - eighteen
tesaatasher - nineteen
ashreen - twenty
find an Arabic phrase book Home
March 9, 2012
Friday
Belly Dancers in movies
Debbie and I needed to spend today coordinating
our workshop notes,
looking at the DVD clips that Hana had made for us, and just paying
attention to all the last minute details like stuffing and collating our
folders.
Debbie was kind of nervous about her choreography and I was mostly nervous
about having to talk! I know I talk in all my classes, maybe even a lot
- giving various facts and anecdotes, ok, it's easy to do while in dance
class - but knowing that I would be called upon to only speak kind of
made me a bit anxious. So Debbie and I spent time apart - me with my notes
and music upstairs and Debbie in the studio downstairs working on her
dance.
About midway through we decided that we needed to have some diversion
so
we decided to look at an Arabic movie. We chose to watch "The
Politician and the Belly Dancer" (1990). The music and soundtrack
was composed by Mohamed Sultan who also composed the song "Khaliko
Shahdin" the song I was going to teach to. Halfway through the
movie I turned on my CD player and started playing music from Leila
Haddad's CDs. She has two CDs devoted to Mohamed Sultan's music and
I remembered a couple of the songs were from the "Politician"
movie. It was interesting to listen to her CD and see the dancing on the
big screen.
The movie is based on a book by Ehsan Abdel Kodous. In the movie,
an internationally known dancer, Sonia Salim seeks help from a
politician in order to get government permits to build an orphanage. Although
they had had a love affair (he was a married man) we see this struggle
between power and authority. He's afraid of the press insinuating his
relationship and she, fighting for recognition and support, decides to
write a book - her memoirs, in order to force him to cooperate. In the
end we see how the system is corrupt and then we can see who has more
integrity - the politician or the belly dancer.
When we were looking at the movie we both commented on how the actress,
Nabila Abeid was a pretty good dancer. I remembered another film
"The Bellydancer and the Drummer"(1984) in which she
played opposite Ahmed Zaki. Anything with Ahmed Zaki is usually
great, and I remember how I was looking forward to seeing this movie.
But after seeing that movie, somehow I blocked it from my memory. All
I remember about the movie now is that I did not like the ending. (But
there were fun drum and dance scenes in it.)
Other actresses who have doubled as dancers in movies have been Soad
Hosni who was rumored to have been secretly married to Abdel Halim
and who actually died (of suicide or?) after falling from a balcony on
the anniversary of his death and Nadia
al Guindy of "Bamba Kashar" fame. Soad, who was the star
in"Khalli balek min ZouZou" was every teen guys dream
girl and Nadia al Guindy always seemed to play the "bad girl".
You owe it to yourself to see at least one Arabic movie and see how belly
dancers are perceived in the Arab world. Another film with a good soundtrack
is "My Father up a Tree" (abi foq al shagarah - 1969)
with Abdel Halim and Nadia Lutfi. Home
March 8, 2012
Thursday
Arabic phrasing.
Picked up Debbie from the airport and after dropping
off her stuff we met Georges for lunch where we reassured him that
he already knew what he needed to teach. After leaving Georges, Debbie
and I finalized our workshop plans and she went off to take a much-needed
nap having been up for over 24 hours and I went off to my studio to teach
my class.
In performance class we're still working on the 10/8 rhythm. I decided
to use another example from another magensi. I know that the 10/8 rhythm
doesn't pop up that much in regular dance songs but there sure seem to
be plenty of 10/8 dance opps in the end sections of many magensies.
Tonight we used a piece from Elias Lammam's CD. It is the dance
piece - track one and comes right after a khaligi section. Kim
was in class and we reminisced about how she had danced to this piece
at Tropigala for Elias' CD release party.
No one was brave enough to dance to it and then Kim volunteered so we
worked on it in class and broke it down in sections. It is a very interesting
piece where in the beginning although the melody remains constant, the
rhythm changes and also because it is not square. So Arabic! It's like
a mathematical equation or something, but not really. I remember when
I broke it down it was quite unique in its phrasing repetitions. But that
is what makes Arabic music so special. Home
March 7, 2012
Wednesday
Aswat and Mohamed Abdel Wahab
Well it happened. Faisal celebrated his birthday
by shaving his head. He is off to a clean start and a new knit cap. Of
course it was cold in the room and Susu and a few others were wearing
hoodies. Sandy just solved it all by wearing two coats.
Susu and I took extra tars and dufs to practice tonight. We're trying
to get different songs sound like they really are different songs with
different instrumentation. Last week she was playing the walls (banging
out the rhythms on the walls, chairs and podiums) and this week she used
actual instruments.
Next on the agenda will be to see if we can convince our director Omar
to let us change the rhythms on some of the songs. Husain is particularly
upset because we are playing an Iraqi song and he wants us to use malfoof
instead of jorjina. We learned it was because a Jordanian singer sang
a "cover" of the song and his Jordanian band couldn't play jorgina
properly so they changed it to malfoof. Omar is Jordanian. I think that
the percussion section can just privately coordinate the rhythm changes
and just change it. Maybe he won't even notice. Or better yet, maybe then
he'll realize how much better or more proper it sounds. If we are doing
an Iraqi song, shouldn't we use the correct Iraqi rhythms?
Also on our agenda is to get more Abdel Wahab songs we like on
our rehearsal schedule. Our June concert is supposed to be devoted to
Abdel Wahab but it seems like other composers are sharing the bill and
I don't really like most of the Abdel Wahab songs we've been practicing.
Fortunately we have three more months of rehearsal. A lot can change between
now and then. I guess it's up to us to either suggest our favorite songs
or just shut up and put up with what we're playing.
Ya dalaa, ya dalaa,
eidalaa - Sabah
eidalaa - play spoiled
bein - among, betwee
el helween - the beautiful ones
rohi - my soul, i=my
rohak - your soul, ak=your
habeit - loved
albi - my heart, i-my Home
March 6, 2012
Tuesday
Pancakes
I taught my workshop choreography in class tonight and
was able to remember the entire song. Using my terminology I start with
one two threes, then do push backs, pancakes, over easy, go nowhere and
finally end up with swimming the backstroke. Not bad for person who can't
remember choreography - especially since this song is a whole ten and
a half minutes long. Now, let's see if I can continue to remember it by
Sunday. And I actually think I will.
I really like this song and feel that it talks to me and tells me what
to do. I just hope that other people will hear the same message. Now the
big challenge will be to write down the choreography so that others can
interpret my dance language. Hopefully the combinations will flow and
will be easy for others to remember.
I talked to Georges today and he and Susu will teach from
2 to 5 pm. They will probably do the class together talking about rhythms
and the music. I'm pretty excited about the format of the workshop and
think I will learn a lot too.
situ bas basbousa - Ahmed Adaweya
situ - grandma
bas - just, only
basbousa - a honey cake
sokar - sugar
asal - honey
ayez - want
ishtagal - work Home
March 5 2012
Monday
Odd times
Tonight we played cymbals to the 10/8 rhythm. Or maybe
I should say that I showed how to play the cymbals. I think maybe next
week or the week after the cymbals will come. Hopefully. I'm already starting
to get bored with this rhythm and want to move on. I really need to discipline
myself to keep to the 10/8 and let everyone master this and then possibly
go on to teaching the 6/8 part of the samai.. Once there then we can start
dancing to more than just the requisite "Lamma Bada Yetathana".
There are so many different samai songs and it would be nice to be able
to just put one on and see the girls feeling comfortable dancing to them.
We'll see.
My ultimate plan will be to get all the odd rhythms down with cymbals
and music. Does 9/8 work with Egyptian dance? I guess I need to make exceptions
since we are in America and not in Egypt.
I tried out my "Khaliko" choreography on the class and
I think I see where I need to make a couple of changes. I guess I was
making too many changes in my original choreography and I need to remember
that I only have a couple of hours to teach this song. I can still keep
the original steps but should "dumb" it down just a little.
If I'm having trouble remembering the choreography and I made it up, then
I need to remember that the class might also have trouble remembering.
Khaliko
Shahedin - Faiza Ahmed
khalik - stay, keep
shahdeen - witness
saneen - years
hawa - love, air
tayhin - lost, pl.
saybina - leave us, na=us
nestana - we wait - n=we
omri - my life, ever
ya reet = I wish
al moug - the waves
aayza - to want Home
March 4, 2012
Sunday
Miscellaneous
It was such a nice day today that I really wasn't looking
forward to spending the day in a cold building. Then I thought, it's gotta
be warm in there. Well, I was wrong. Maybe their furnace is broken or
maybe they just want to save on their PG&E bill. Anyway, even though
it was a beautiful day we all showed up for practice with coats on.
Faisal showed up as AbuSafi and chose to play the riq since
he couldn't fit both a drum and a cute little baby (Safi)on his
lap. For our June concert I have decided to play my duf Lebanese style
- using two hands and holding the duf between the legs, rather than holding
the duf and playing it with one hand Egyptian style. I'm practicing the
various hand and finger techniques and hope I can get better sounds by
June. Playing in a concert requires more finesse than my banging technique
that I use when I play in a club atmosphere.
Since I have become Husain's designated driver/chauffeur - he got
tired of being a limo drive and also sold his car - I am not taking advantage
of Omar's maqam class that is offered after Sunday practice. Husain
isn't interested - doesn't need it - and he told me that I don't either.
In a way he's right, since I don't sing or play a musical instrument.
I told Husain that if he wasn't interested in Omar's class that he'd have
to give me some privates. We'll see about that. I could always tell Husain
to find an alternate way home, but maybe I'm really not that interested
in taking a maqam class. In the meantime though, Georges will be
teaching a little about maqam at our workshop this Saturday. I'm looking
forward to that as he will be teaching about the maqams specific to our
songs.
One of the oud players, Hani decided that there are too many oud
players in our group, so he rented an accordion and has been playng the
accordion in rehearsal. It has added a lot to the sound of the group and
now he's looking into buying an accordion tuned to Arabic scales. Of course
the Pasha band will soon be putting him to work learning some of our material.
Too bad he has a regular job and doesn't have that much time to devote
to music.
As we keep recruiting new members to work with our band, I wonder where
we'll find the gigs to pays for such a big group. Husain seems to be pretty
confident that once our demo CD is done that the jobs will come pouring
in. Also he's still on my case about the pr photos
and the website.
This could turn into a full-time job. The administrative end, not the
music end. Well, in the meantime, maybe I'll just come up with another
practice CD and call another rehearsal.
Enta Omri - Om Kalthoum
ragaouni - returned to me, brought me back, i=me
ainak - your eyes, ak=you
ayam - days, youm, s.
raheit -
maadi - past
geirah - wound
shouftu- they saw, u=they
able - before
ablak - before you, ak=your
aineya - my eye
omr - life
da - this
ebtida - started
sabah - morning -
adei eh - how much
min - from
delwa'tee - now
bass - only
akhaaf - to fear
igree -run Home
March 3, 2012
Saturday
Getting lost in the Car-eography
Today I tried out some of the choreography I will be teaching
next weekend at my workshop. My song has three parts and I'm to teach
how to improvise.
Well, my whole life if how to improvise. If something doesn't work one
way, if I improvise, then it will work out better another way. Kind of
like cooking. This has really worked out well for me in designing costumes
for me and my group - especially when I just buy fabric with no idea in
mind of what to do with it and no idea of how much fabric I will need.
Somehow, magically - miraculously - as if God were talking to me, I end
up with just the right amount of fabric. Is this improvising? Or is this
making do? I guess I really don't know the difference, but then in dancing,
is improvising making do or is it creating art on the spot? Is this what
is known as saltanah? The physical act of creating the tarab? Is this
beauty is in the eye of the beholder? I don't know, but I do know that
sometimes there is that magic in improvisation that can never ever be
recreated. It's a one time thing, a one time feeling and sensation for
the creator and the audience. But how to attain that? We have to start
somewhere. For me sometimes it's in the car. I am driving along listening
to music and it appears - a vision - a dance - and I need to get home
quick to see if it really is real or just a vision. Sometimes it's just
a tool to start the creative process and that's good too.
Next week I'm going to attempt to teach that. I will start with basic
tools such as choreography - as I know it - and then try to awaken the
sensations in order to pull a dance and dance movements out of the music.
We'll see. If even one person understands and is able to do this, I'll
consider it a success. The importance will be if I am able to inspire
the class to become 100% lost in the music while creating. It's hard to
get out of the head but that's what it will take. I think that's why when
going to a music/dance concert the music is always jacked up to abominable
decibels. That's one way to get lost in it all. But we can do if we focus.
Zahma ya dunya zahma,
Ahmed Adaweya
zahma - crowed
ya - oh
dunya - world
moulid - saint day, festival
agy - I come
min - from
hena - here
wust - middle
aayez - to want
ana - I, me Home
March 2, 2012
Friday
The director's cut
I spent part of the day going over my Tarab DVDs. Debbie
and I will be showing video examples of music and dancing as part
of our workshop class. It 's been fun trying to decide what clips I want
to show. As usual, I have too many selections set aside and it will be
difficult choosing the relevant ones. I have a way of getting sidetracked
and consider everything important thinking that everything is, in one
way or another, related. This is where people like Debbie and Gregory
are a great help. They can just coldly (efficiently?) cut the crap
and leave me with only the most important pieces. Of course then I'm always
lamenting about "the ones that got away".
I guess that's why some movies are called "the director's cut"
and are always too long or why Jackie Chan started the trend of
showing out-takes during the credits. I've always liked Jackie Chan movies
ever since I saw "Drunken Master". It's the original
story of what you all may know as "The Karate Kid". It's
about how a kid trains to fight by learning how to repetitiously do the
most inane tasks and then applying the methods to fighting techniques.
This is how I see the dance. Everything counts. Life counts. Not just
dance class and dance steps. Everything.
Back to DVDs. It's been fun watching the old black and white clips of
some of the singers - especially Om, Faiza and Abdel Halim.
I've been enjoying seeing who's in the orchestra, counting the number
of musicians, the great number of violinists and cellists and seeing how
the new musicians started sneaking into what we call the classic songs.
Twenty violins and then a saxophone, a keyboard, an electric guitar, bongo
drums and the hair that went with these instruments. The new and the old
- what a great mix. Yes, it's been fun and I hope I manage to find a good
selection to show next weekend. A good selection to show how all of it
is related.
Fakkarooni -
they reminded me - Om Kalthoum
taani - again
anak -about you
naar - fire
shouq - longing
qalbi, albi - my heart, i-my
ayouni - my eyes, i-my
maadi- the past
ragawaa - returned
ba-azaaba - torture
rouhi - my soul Home
March 1, 2012
Thursday
Finding the one
Tonight I decided to work on the 10/8 rhythm. I realized
that we in class are pretty comfortable with certain dance rhythms like
maqsoum and beledy and even wahedeh but when it comes to other rhythms,
especially the odd ones, that's not the case. I decided to use cymbals
to teach the rhythm.
Of course, these days it seems that not too many people are that adept or comfortable playing cymbals. So - I was taking them out of their comfort zone. Well, why not go one step further and use veil too? This was going to be FUN!!! We were going to concentrate on the "iqa", the rhythm and the upper body - using the veil as an extension of the body. A little anatomy lesson here - the belly button is connected to the back bone which zips up to connect to the breastbone and winds around and connects to the shoulder blades and up through the shoulder sockets and out the arms to the finger tips and continues on to the veil.
So we worked on clapping and cymbals - ding ess ess clack ess ding ding
clack ess ess, ding ess ess clack ess ding ding clack ess ess and so on.
Most were able to dance to the rhythm but I really didn't get the feeling
that it was inside their bodies and wondered if they really could find
the one without counting. We need to continue to do this until we don't
count anymore.
Whenever I'm confronted with an odd rhythm or a count that I don't know,
I try several methods to try to find the one. My first method is to guess
or pre-decide what the rhythm is and then count it out - fast, slow, methodically,
rhythmically until the count fits what I think it is. If I realize that
this is not working and I need to be more precise, then I will dance it
out and figure out the count with my body and feet. That usually works.
If I'm still stumped when I realize that each time I count, I come up
with a different number, then I'll consult an expert like Susu
or a musician who has more knowledge than my instincts.
Here's a few examples of how some musicians have helped me and how I helped
myself:
Rachid Halihal tried to teach me Moroccan rhythms and when I asked,
"where's the one"? he replied that I could find it by singing
it.
Karim Nagi has helped me by telling me I can find the one by rocking
in my chair. This meant that I could internalize the rhythm and find it
by dancing in my seat, gently rocking back and forth until the one would
magically appear.
Vince Delgado told me to use my fingers. He said to treat each fingertip
as a number and start counting the tips and continuing on to the creases
on the insides of each of the knuckles until the one would reappear.
All of these methods have worked, but before I had teachers I just had
myself and my own method. I remember the first time I heard the 10/8 rhythm.
I was performing on stage at the Bagdad and I realized something
was different, things weren't meshing. Panicked? No! I just sweetly smiled
at my audience, looked through my eyelashes flirtatiously, slowly lifted
my chest swaying in a sensuous manner, put my hands behind my back, holding
my veil and while pulsing to the music I anxiously used my fingers trying
to find the one. It worked. The magic of the moment was the audience ensnared
in the magic of my moment which was dancing for them alone and not letting
on that I was counting.
Lama Bada Yetathana - folklore, Naima Akef
lamma - when
hubbi - my love
jamalum, gamalul - their beauty, u-their
aman - safety, security, surrender, mercy
malik -king Home
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