Instrument of the Week
One reason for going over individual instruments in class, and for practicing phrasing, and why I make y'all improvise, is that I want to, proverbially, teach you to fish, rather than giving a fish. When you learn to hear what the music is telling you to do you will be able to dance to any song you enjoy, and not have to depend on anyone else for choreography. Metaphorically, you can feed yourself, and have the option of expressing your own feeling through your dance, rather than having someone else put "words" in your mouth. I know it can be frustrating to work through these new skills, but I hope this encourages you and shows why it is worth it.
This week, we worked on another wind instrument, the mizmar. This instrument is associated with Upper Egypt (South of Cairo and north of Nubia, AKA the Saidi region). A family might all play the mizmar, with the oldest or most skilled getting to do the fancy notes, and the youngest or least skilled playing the drone. Mizmar is also played often with dancing horses, who are trained from a young age to get used to the sound (and volume) of the instrument. The horses are sometimes famous.
A similar sounding instrument, the mijwiz, is popular in Lebanese music (they might also use mizmar, mijwiz is more like a small arghul.)
One reason for going over individual instruments in class, and for practicing phrasing, and why I make y'all improvise, is that I want to, proverbially, teach you to fish, rather than giving a fish. When you learn to hear what the music is telling you to do you will be able to dance to any song you enjoy, and not have to depend on anyone else for choreography. Metaphorically, you can feed yourself, and have the option of expressing your own feeling through your dance, rather than having someone else put "words" in your mouth. I know it can be frustrating to work through these new skills, but I hope this encourages you and shows why it is worth it.
This week, we worked on another wind instrument, the mizmar. This instrument is associated with Upper Egypt (South of Cairo and north of Nubia, AKA the Saidi region). A family might all play the mizmar, with the oldest or most skilled getting to do the fancy notes, and the youngest or least skilled playing the drone. Mizmar is also played often with dancing horses, who are trained from a young age to get used to the sound (and volume) of the instrument. The horses are sometimes famous.
A similar sounding instrument, the mijwiz, is popular in Lebanese music (they might also use mizmar, mijwiz is more like a small arghul.)
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| bonus instrument 1: the mijwiz | Arghul, popular in Palestine, Egypt, and more |
Prop of the Week
Fan veils come from Asian dance, they were added into bellydance in the late 90s/2000s and the best dances usually have some grounding in the source material. Other inspirations include flamenco fans and burlesque. Here is an article from Princess Farhana about fans in bellydance, and some more information on the source dances.
I know very little about the various Asian dances the silk fans come from, but I've included a few videos of different fan dances for a baseline to compare how they appear in bellydance performances to.
Fan veils come from Asian dance, they were added into bellydance in the late 90s/2000s and the best dances usually have some grounding in the source material. Other inspirations include flamenco fans and burlesque. Here is an article from Princess Farhana about fans in bellydance, and some more information on the source dances.
I know very little about the various Asian dances the silk fans come from, but I've included a few videos of different fan dances for a baseline to compare how they appear in bellydance performances to.
| A Chinese silk-fan dance | Fans used in flamenco | burlesque ostrich fans (NSFW) |
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Now, onto a bellydance context!
| They can be used in the same context of a regular veil | Or in a more lively way | And are popular for flashy group numbers |
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My favorite fan veil performances are in the Teel Fan method, crafted by Victoria Teel and the fans made by Silkdancer, including the super-fan (on the right)
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| Fusion fans can sometimes use fire, esp at counter culture events like burning man. | fans fusions can also be focused on other source dances | and fans aren't the only thing veils get added to. (poi are originally Maori) |
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Song of the Week
Fi Yom w Leila is this week's song. Here is a playlist of different versions, and the translation. This is a song from Warda, another great woman of Arabic music, although a later generation than Om Kalthoom, whom we talked about last week.
Fi Yom w Leila is this week's song. Here is a playlist of different versions, and the translation. This is a song from Warda, another great woman of Arabic music, although a later generation than Om Kalthoom, whom we talked about last week.
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