February 2007 Archives
Two recent performances, one videoed by Mahsati Janan that will be the last performance with this music, mostly likely:
And the other from last weekend, working with Rising Sun Tribe at Morganton(NC)'s Black History Month:
Yes, that really is the Theme from Shaft, reworked by Malik Adouane into Arabic. His original video is on YouTube as well, cheesy as hell, and with crappy raqs sharqi, to boot!
The second song is from the first Drummers of the Nile project CD, Halawa Ya, and is just a brilliant, "ol skool'" song, with the "clacky" bits -- bits that were a bitch to map out and try to reproduce with the sagats! I didn't succeed the way I'd like to have, but I think I gave a good accounting. Plus, there's no better way to focus than to learn it knowing you're going on stage with it...
And the other from last weekend, working with Rising Sun Tribe at Morganton(NC)'s Black History Month:
Yes, that really is the Theme from Shaft, reworked by Malik Adouane into Arabic. His original video is on YouTube as well, cheesy as hell, and with crappy raqs sharqi, to boot!
The second song is from the first Drummers of the Nile project CD, Halawa Ya, and is just a brilliant, "ol skool'" song, with the "clacky" bits -- bits that were a bitch to map out and try to reproduce with the sagats! I didn't succeed the way I'd like to have, but I think I gave a good accounting. Plus, there's no better way to focus than to learn it knowing you're going on stage with it...
Asim1
Originally uploaded by Woodrow.
I love this photo of me. It's blurry, sure, but it just captures what I really like about my performance style, the energy the interaction with the audience, the sheer power of performing. It's great!
My thanks to Sharifa Asmar for snapping the photo, and sending it to me.
As a follow-up to the Filistine post, here's the kick-ass DJ Rupture's Gold Teeth Thief mix -- a free mix that was so good, I bought the CD. This was my introduction to Rupture's music, music that's deep and rich, that's about cultures and the blurring of lines between them, even as his mixes underline the importance of those cultures' rich heritages. His work is about far, far more than adding a drum machine to some old Egyptian tune, and his blog, Mudd Up!, is not just about cool native music, but about the politics and cultural implications of using that music.
There's a cool new post over at Glided Serpent that's a mostly ol' skool dancer roundtable*, and they start of with the question, for me, at the core of Rupture's music, asking "How has music contributed to the phenomenon of fusion in Middle Eastern Dance?".
Having such rich and complex music at hand makes it easier for me to approach that Middle Way. For me, it's the creative tension between tearing away from raqs sharqi and hewing to it's traditions. I think there's a rich energy in that space that's yet to be explored -- what happens when you bring sagats ("zills") into a high-BPM music? How does layering hip-hop onto a slow Oud-driven tune change your dance? What, indeed, is the line between "real" middle eastern music, suitable for raqs sharqi, and something flat out outside of it?
Listen to Rupture, and tell me what you think...
* I'll be coming back to this; there's a wealth of ideas in that roundtable to admire and despair over.
There's a cool new post over at Glided Serpent that's a mostly ol' skool dancer roundtable*, and they start of with the question, for me, at the core of Rupture's music, asking "How has music contributed to the phenomenon of fusion in Middle Eastern Dance?".
Having such rich and complex music at hand makes it easier for me to approach that Middle Way. For me, it's the creative tension between tearing away from raqs sharqi and hewing to it's traditions. I think there's a rich energy in that space that's yet to be explored -- what happens when you bring sagats ("zills") into a high-BPM music? How does layering hip-hop onto a slow Oud-driven tune change your dance? What, indeed, is the line between "real" middle eastern music, suitable for raqs sharqi, and something flat out outside of it?
Listen to Rupture, and tell me what you think...
* I'll be coming back to this; there's a wealth of ideas in that roundtable to admire and despair over.
I keep meaning to post this, and forgetting.
For those who liked the 2nd half of the song from my recent dance bit, a recent performance from the artist, Filastine, is online at Spannered. Naturally, I highly recommend it -- he's one of the good guys in the realm of world music re-workings and re-imaginings, and the set is an amazing, high-powered drill, pokin' holes in the walls separating cultures.
Plus, it just Kicks My Ass Hard. Here's the description from the site:
(Hat tip to DJ Rupture for the reference.)
For those who liked the 2nd half of the song from my recent dance bit, a recent performance from the artist, Filastine, is online at Spannered. Naturally, I highly recommend it -- he's one of the good guys in the realm of world music re-workings and re-imaginings, and the set is an amazing, high-powered drill, pokin' holes in the walls separating cultures.
Plus, it just Kicks My Ass Hard. Here's the description from the site:
Filastine released his debut LP Burn It on DJ /rupture's Soot Records imprint earlier this year. The album showcases his skill as percussionist and vision as a producer, combining a globe-trotting sensibility with deft programming. Arabic, Brazilian and other traditions meet crunching street beats to create an album that is widely travelled but still rooted in a carefully crafted individual aesthetic. This mix showcases Filastine's live show, which has a rowdy edge not so audible on his studio work. The same striking fragments of recorded sounds heard on the record are combined with dubstep, breakcore, grime, dancehall and loops and acapellas from other cutting edge club sounds. Add the spice of live percussion, played on a darbouka, midi drums, and a shopping trolley, and you have the recipe for something very tasty indeed.
(Hat tip to DJ Rupture for the reference.)
Damn it feels good to see people up on it
'Cause I remember when at first they wasn't
---Biz Markie, The Vapors
It's always a pleasure to see an shit-kickin' idea brought to life. That I got to come to TribalCon, after 3 years of trying, and see what Zi'ah, Awalim, and the amazing crew of staff + teachers pulled off, honestly made me a little close to weepy a couple of times. Not only the raw talent, but the evident goodness of the people, teachers, and crew...there's actually some emotion by me on this, and I'm not 'shamed to say it.
There's more I will say on the matter -- I plan to write a review, as emotionally close as I am to the situation. But I will say this here, as it touches on a lot of what APOSTATE is about. There was, in this thing called "tribal", such a variety of forms that have branched off of, and incorporated the core ideals, of raqs sharqi. And to my eye, those ideas are not about movements, per se -- not in a form that changed so drastically in the early 20th Century. It's about the core of Dr. Shay's COREOPHOBIA, the solo improvisational dance style, and what you can do with it in a group, as non-intuitive as that may sound.
Tribalcon celebrates the variety. what these people are doing with it is Art, amazing artistic expressions that are built on the ideas of bringing out what's within you. The music alone runs a gamut from dancing with live musicians in a ethnically solid style to rockin' out to DJ Shadow's Instrumental Trance Hip-Hop with Classical influences. To call it all of one piece -- and I'm someone who decries the very term "tribal" and especially "tribal fusion" -- is to miss the point, and the opportunity, of what's going on here.
And UNMATA is my New Favorite Band. As cool as their YouTube stuff is, I'm flat-out blown away by the niceness and wisdom of Amy, their director, and Rashel in person. And their work is part and parcel with the concepts I expresses in On da street kickin' asphalt in yo face.
I got, due to not only my last post but also some outside emails, a lot of notes about "belly dance" being or not being period. The short form, so that everyone's on the same page, is "Yes! -- and it was called 'raqs'."
I wrote an Overview, with Annotated Bibliography, on the subject that's posted here:
The SCA period dancer in the Middle East: An Overview
The SCA period dancer in the Middle East: A Bibliography
Share and Enjoy! :)
I wrote an Overview, with Annotated Bibliography, on the subject that's posted here:
The SCA period dancer in the Middle East: An Overview
The SCA period dancer in the Middle East: A Bibliography
Share and Enjoy! :)
I hate to keep linking to Kung Fu Monkey, but if John would stop hitting it out of the ballpark like Babe Ruth...
Some folks , no doubt, wonder why I cuss on here. Others wonder "what's the point?" when I go off on what looks like some semi-obscure point in the dance realm. Me spouting off about historical analysis isn't nearly as cool as a bunch of dancers rambling on about another fuckin' pair of Melodias...and I'm not sayin' that just because I can't get a custom pair made. :)
Yes, there is a reason, and that reason John cleverly unwraps in the climax of his discussion on the Edwards blogger issue. Very basically, the John Edwards campaign hired two bloggers about a week ago, and look to be on the cusp of firing them over a SwiftBoating of the blogger's opinions on what I like to call "Political Catholicism". It's bullshit, total bullshit, and way past any real point these bloggers might make. That they are also women, and ID as feminists, makes this even sadder.
The short point John Rogers is making is that John Edwards needs to Grow. A. Pair. And he needs to do it fast, 'cause these bastards don't stop coming.
This reminds me of certain less-than-fully-historically-aware elements in the "belly dance" world, shall we say. The people who "attack first" , without understanding the complex historical arcs that lead up to the modern "splintering" of raqs sharqi. The people who've listened to the folks "over there" and taken their word as gospel, and then parrot it here without thinking over the implications of those words. The people who "read" half-written, poorly-researched works on the "History of the dance", and then spew it out at the drop of a hat. All these people are BRINGING THE DANCE DOWN. Of course we're a laughing stock, we can't even get our basic history right! How, exactly, do you expect to get respect when you're not only showing up in a glittery over-padded push-up bra, but can't even say where this dance comes from?
If I get kicked out of every "cool belly dancing kids" club over speaking on the need to think, to speak to people with a real and clear language, to finally understand how we are perceived to the world at-large, that's all good with my soul. We all need to be angry that we've been led down a path of half-truths and lies, for no good goddamned reason.
And that goes a hundred times more for Politics. To cap with what Rogers said at the end of his piece:
Some folks , no doubt, wonder why I cuss on here. Others wonder "what's the point?" when I go off on what looks like some semi-obscure point in the dance realm. Me spouting off about historical analysis isn't nearly as cool as a bunch of dancers rambling on about another fuckin' pair of Melodias...and I'm not sayin' that just because I can't get a custom pair made. :)
Yes, there is a reason, and that reason John cleverly unwraps in the climax of his discussion on the Edwards blogger issue. Very basically, the John Edwards campaign hired two bloggers about a week ago, and look to be on the cusp of firing them over a SwiftBoating of the blogger's opinions on what I like to call "Political Catholicism". It's bullshit, total bullshit, and way past any real point these bloggers might make. That they are also women, and ID as feminists, makes this even sadder.
The short point John Rogers is making is that John Edwards needs to Grow. A. Pair. And he needs to do it fast, 'cause these bastards don't stop coming.
This reminds me of certain less-than-fully-historically-aware elements in the "belly dance" world, shall we say. The people who "attack first" , without understanding the complex historical arcs that lead up to the modern "splintering" of raqs sharqi. The people who've listened to the folks "over there" and taken their word as gospel, and then parrot it here without thinking over the implications of those words. The people who "read" half-written, poorly-researched works on the "History of the dance", and then spew it out at the drop of a hat. All these people are BRINGING THE DANCE DOWN. Of course we're a laughing stock, we can't even get our basic history right! How, exactly, do you expect to get respect when you're not only showing up in a glittery over-padded push-up bra, but can't even say where this dance comes from?
If I get kicked out of every "cool belly dancing kids" club over speaking on the need to think, to speak to people with a real and clear language, to finally understand how we are perceived to the world at-large, that's all good with my soul. We all need to be angry that we've been led down a path of half-truths and lies, for no good goddamned reason.
And that goes a hundred times more for Politics. To cap with what Rogers said at the end of his piece:
It's not like I'm standing on a pristine hill and saying it's time to piss down the immaculate green slopes. We're in a memetic fight with the bullies of greed, of social control, of bigotry, of fear, we've been in it for years. I personally am sick of some Administration official telling an outright lie on television, or some pundit spewing racism that you wouldn't accept at a barbecue, and the liberal on the split-screen coughs and moves on to his next bloodless talking point.
Fill your hands, you sons a bitches.
