Must Know Songs: Winter Semester

From level 2 on, please pick a song each week to familiarize yourself with. Keep an ear out for songs you might like to dance to at student shows!

These songs are on the "Must Know" list for being staples that you might hear a band play, they are more ordered by their fame and popularity rather than how easy they are to dance to. In the future, I hope to have more info about each song up on my site. For now, I'll just include playlists of each song.

Check out the playlists, one song each week, and try to get a little familiar with what stays the same and what changes from version to version. Really, if you just listen to enjoy, you'll probably absorb these things. Try to notice if there are certain bands or styles you gravitate towards.

Click the song title for a whole playlist of examples of the songs. 

Aziza. It was composted by Mohammed Abdel Wahab in 1954 for a movie that stared Naima Akef's. It is a very popular piece and you can find versions of it in just about every style of bellydance music imaginable.

Bahlam Beek is an Abdel Halim Hafez classic. ​Here's the translation.

Alf Leyla W Leila, which happens to be my favorite song ^_^ it is an Om Kalthoom classic, one of the hour long songs and we usually dance to just its intro. Here's a link to the translation of the lyrics that come after the intro.

Hebena (Habina, Habeena, etc) is a Farid al-Atrache song from 1975. Here is the translation.

Fi Yom w Leila. Here is the translation. This is a song from Warda, another great woman of Arabic music, although a later generation than Om Kalthoom.

Ana Fi Intezarak is another Om Kalthoom classic, about a lover who left and she has gone crazy with wondering after him. Lyrics are here.

Gana el Hawa, one of the many hits by superstar of the golden era: Abdel Halim Hafez. Here are the Lyrics and the playlists includes a clip of the song in the original movie!

Kariet el Fingan, a classic song, the title means "the fortune teller". Here is the Lyric Translation. (the video doesn't display below, but clicking it open in youtube should access all the videos)

Bitwanees Beek, allso spelled Betwanis bik, etc. It's a very dynamic song, popular with bellydancers, by the late and great Warda, who was prolific during the 80s and 90s. The playlist includes Warda singing it herself, and a car commercial that featured it! Here's a link to the translation.

Inta Omri. AKA enta omry, etc. It is an Om Kalthoom classic that is a very long song and bellydancers usually dance to one part or another of it. Here's a translation of the lyrics.

AND, some info about The Great Lady, Om Kalthoom (she has her own museum in Cairo. She's a VERY big deal!) her wikipedia page, and info on her from a bellydance site, of course a lot of her music isn't in the bellydance realm, and it wasn't originally composed for bellydance, but some of the biggest bellydance songs came from her singing and collaborating with the best composers.