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“Dear Kajira:
When I first learned about American Tribal Style, I remember my teacher saying that the music used for that style was very “earthy” (whatever that means), with pronounced drumbeats and repetitive phrases. But I see dancers performing to just about everything. Is there any ‘rule’ for ATS music? Thanks! - Renee, (WI)"
Dear Renee,
Thank you for asking that question! It is very pertinent these days since there is so much more great music to choose from than when ATS (American Tribal Style) first began in the 1980s (I’m talking about the original, pure, true, actual lead-n-follow ATS developed by Carolena Nericcio and FatChanceBellyDance, not their/our precursors, Bal Anat or The San Francisco Classic Dance Troupe - see The Tribal Bible for more info on those early groups).
I remember Carolena telling me in interviews and conversations over my 8 years with her (in the 90s) and after I split that once she had taken over Masha Archer’s classes (Masha was her teacher and director of The SF Classic Dance Troupe) she decided to check out Middle Eastern music and learn the rhythms and phrasing. Masha had used a lot of “arty” piano music, occidental classical stuff and patterned her opulent costuming after ideas gleaned from such sources as The Ballet Russe and Art Deco. Carolena wanted more of a “Mid-East connection” in her classes and so, besides the music, she took drumming lessons with Susu Pampanin and introduced finger cymbals to her dancers in class, along with rhythm instruction.
At this time, as any belly dancer anywhere who was around in “the early days” can tell you, she was limited to finding Middle Eastern music cassettes tapes in one store in the Mission District of San Francisco. This was after the “Dance for Your Sultan” LPs from the 1960s. Our technology had moved past LPs, past the reel-to-reels (which I remember putting on for my family as child in the 60s and 70s, even though we did have LP records then), blew through 8-track cassettes and into the smaller cassette tapes by the time she was looking in the 1980s.
Back then, there were three basic types of MidEastern music to choose from: folkloric (what most dancers would refer to as “earthy”), the heavily orchestrated, sit-with-your-hands-folded-politely Arabic listening music (what I’d call “airy” or even “cerebral”), and lastly, there was the slightly Hollywood-meets-Egypt nightclub music that came about after Hollywood producers got their hands on Samia Gamal and other famous Eygptian dancers, dressed them in what became “Egyptain bedah” (LOL!) and sequined the glamor on thickly for movies that the American and European public ate up like so much popcorn. (But thanks to Hollywood, Egypt then developed nightclubs - venues specifically for music and dance. The first nightclub owner in Egypt was a woman, Badia Masabni!)
America and the rest of the western/occidental world had a good time influencing how music and dance of the eastern/oriental world should look and sound, as everyone wanted to be like “the Americans” and Europeans (not so much now, but in the world of music and dance I’d definitely have to say YES, even still)! So the Middle East bought into it all: orchestra pits, non-native instruments, amplified music (and thanks to the influx of Russian ballerinas who in turn greatly influenced The Reda Troupe and others like them), big theatres with stages so they could add ballet moves in order to “move across the floor” and “take up space” as in the concept of occidental dance, and other “cultured” ideas into their original folk dances. (The original Middle Eastern dances were done in very small spaces such as tents, rooms in houses, or in the streets by Ghawazee.)
They even added (eek!) choreography to Middle Eastern dance, which up until the 1940s was always improvised, due to the Russian ballet dancers that not only influenced the national dances and how they were presented, but brought “prettier arms” via the introduction of the veil as a tool for Sohair Zeki to help her have “better, more graceful” arm carriage. This all seemed so much more civilized at the time, and made Egypt sound more like a romantic, welcoming destination to Occidentals since it was becoming less “foreign” a.k.a. “scary”. (Living on Maui, HI, has made me oh-so-aware of how much places that want to be “destinations” and rely on money from tourism can change - against residents’ wills - an entire landscape or ecosystem to fill that goal. In Egypt, such changes occurred not only in how music and dance was presented, but also in the development of occidental-style hotels, resorts, Nile cruises and Pyramid tours.)
As the nightclubs and large theatres in Egypt became the place to go and be seen, network and hang out, dancers demanded music they could dance to that was orchestrated and that they could do 5 or 15 costume changes, circulate through the crowd, sing, tell jokes, etc. Oh, and yes, they also danced! So then the bands developed the third option mentioned above for oriental music: the seated, listening portion of the evening (that sometimes seems like it goes on for hours), and then the dance music for the dancer, the fill music for her costume changes and the noodling needed while she was in the audience or being carried around in huge baskets or what-have-you (mostly all movie ideas from the U.S.).....
This music was and is very complicated rhythmically with endless changes in what instrument may be highlighted for a takseem, which and how many “classics” they’ll play, whether or not they’ll include a folk number, “zar”, Saaidi, baladi or Khaleegi part (oft determined by who was in the crowd and tipping big, of course). Obviously, this music was and is only dance-able by soloists. The Reda Troupe was the only one that had choreographed troupe routines in which folkloric styles as well as nightclub styles were blended almost out of the Egyptian culture by its adherence to western standards (IMO) due to that HEAVY ballet technique. And their poor musicians could not vary their music nightly or the dang choreography would be off.
So, when your teacher told you about “earthy, pronounced drumbeats and repetitive phrases”, perhaps she was once in the same boat as Carolena. Of the 3 styles of MidEastern music available in the 1980s (and only in large metropolises, BTW, not your local hippie rock-n-roll music store) the only one suitable for group dances without choreography was folkloric. Folkloric music IS earthy (it’s played in the dirt, in the field, by and for the common people) and can be repetitive, which in some cases was purposeful in order to induce trance-like states of joy out there in the desert. Carolena leaned towards groups like Les Musiciens de Nile (The Musicians of the Nile), Hossam Ramzy’s folkloric stuff like “Baladi Plus” and others, Hamsa el Din, and Aisha Ali’s field recordings of North Africa and Egypt. She did not stray into Turkish music or rhythms, though certainly today ATS groups can and do. In the 1990s, we finally started seeing some of these cassettes on CDs! Wow, you don’t have to rewind? Cool! We love those little disks.
With the continued Americanization/Europeanization/occidentalization (pick your fave) of the world, and the fact that new generations everywhere have always wanted something different from their parents, music has evolved just like the Levis, Nikes, sunglasses and other amusing-to-us additions to “traditional dress” everywhere. The most popular music today from oriental countries is much like that from occidental countries. I may even be so bold as to say the classics are “out” to young people. Who the heck still listens to Beethoven or any of those old dead dudes in the occidental world, anyway? Old people and music teachers? I personally have never met a “classical music lover” in all my forty-something years. All I know is: the vast majority of young people the world over certainly don’t. It’s the same everywhere - people are people! We have DJs and rappers, they have DJs and rappers. We like club music, they like club music. We did the Macarena, so did they. (In fact I still have a cassette with about 6 different Arabic Macarena versions on it!) We love the sounds of more than one country in one song, like the kids everywhere do today. After all, MTV and VH1 are hits wherever they’re allowed to be seen. Authorities have a difficult time stopping determined people from getting radio transmissions with “forbidden” music, and since the advent of satellite dishes, television transmissions. We are all becoming more conscious that we are not isolated - that maybe one day “countries” and “borders” can be dissolved and we can all become World Citizens (or die fighting over said boundaries and “ownerships”).
Early (like 1990s) music fusions in the oriental music scene were Spanish-Arabic pop (think Alabina), French-Algerian (think any North African “Cheb” [=”young”] such as Khaled, Cheb Mami, etc.), Indian-Arabic music (everyone loves those Indian tablas!) and others. This was and is also happening in Turkish music, which has some very funny music soundtracks sung in Turkish, lots of European influence (since they would like to be part of the European Union) and lots and lots and lots of club pop, ballads with beautiful boys, men, women and girls on the covers holding microphones as well as “dansi” music, which is still more “pure” even though that was influenced during the “Egyptian craze” we all experienced for at least 10 years in the 80s (when that style of dance was thought to be the “only real style” and that music “the only real music” - a bit of an American-sounding attitude, I dare say!) ;-P~~~~
So, yup, today is different from yesterday, that is for sure. With such easily-available music that you can listen to and even download into your computer legally, without paying anything until you decide to burn it onto a CDR (like Rhapsody, which charges you .89 cents per song), dancers of any style have a LOT more music to choose from!
Therefore, today at this moment, there is no “rule” for ATS music *as long as you can still improvise to it in your group* (of course). That should be possible even with somewhat complicated music that has breaks, etc. as long as you guys practice to it and listen to it a lot in your car or home when not dancing so you can anticipate the breaks or tempo changes. It will never be possible (or much fun, I’d think) to dance ATS to the orchestral type, since you would be unable to translate the music into an improvised group dance, and those songs have certain cultural expectations ATS dancers may not be aware of for each section. I have seen members of The Bellydance Superstars and other famous Tribal Fusion dancers use Sulukele Karshilama for slow fusion-style dancing, and I must admit it does bug me (even as open-minded as I am) as it is crying out for Turkish gestures and moves (to me). (YIKES! Maybe I’m one of those stuffy old people!) =:-o I will work on that! LOL!
It’s all up to you as the artist in the end. By now we have realized that the “Ethnic Police” so many of us were worried about in the 80s and 90s do not exist, and if they do, they cannot stem the tide of change. Plus, it’s fun to break “laws” on occasion! Always explain to your audience via an announcement prior to performance, in the program or any way you can that you are performing an American style of BellyDance, not traditional Middle Eastern Dance, and then it’s not so bad to use traditional music and not do “what you’re supposed to” with that type of music. (Another reason us rebel Tribal people love actual fusion music, remixes of standards, and new global music - these types have no “supposed to” factor to worry about.)
Your teacher may have suggested using “pronounced drumbeats and repetitive phrases” at first because ATS was so new, and everyone needed lots of practice improvising and coming up with their own ideas so as not to be clones of FCBD or other famous early ATS groups. But do remember, the more skilled you become, the less pronounced the drumbeat may need to be (though audiences LOVE a nice “bass”/drum line they can clap to and feel in their diaphragms just like we do!) as you will be holding the rhythm with your cymbals.
And something very important to realize is that ALL music has repetitive phrases of any country, anywhere. It’s just that some (such as Indian ragas) have such long phrasing that it’s very easy to lose count if not trained for years. Arabic music has the ability to move in and out of phrases (depending upon the maqam) when it gets complicated, cycling back almost as long as the Indian music does. Persian music can also be extremely complicated. But these examples are not dance music. Most of the music selected by dancers cycle in groups of 4 or 8, though of course odd time signatures are easily adaptable to ATS as well. We also enjoy music with no rhythm at all, such as a great clarinet, ney or violin takseem, for example. That is when we employ our arrhythmic slow moves.
Some of the newer industrialized electronica is useable as well, that is enjoyed by Tribal Fusion artists for example, for ATS. This is all 4/4 or 8/4. The thing that can push you out of the ATS realm and into that of “world fusion dance” is whether or not you can play your finger cymbals to the new music and they don’t sound out of place. That’s where I draw my ATS “line”- I feel we are still bellydancers, albeit not Middle Eastern dancers, because we play our instruments that tie us to those who have come before and we use movements that are simply stylized versions of oriental steps. (ATS does not “fuse” in the sense that we can bring in non-oriental moves such as hip-hop, but we are and have always been as influenced by The Romani Trail as all dancers in those areas have been since the Romani diaspora out of India in the 1100s.)
Recently, at the last Maui Intensive with Ansuya as my guest teacher, I taught in my classes how to utilize Turkish spoons (kashiklar) for this type of new music instead of the metal cymbals to keep hand percussion in ATS even as we allow our musical boundaries to change with the times. I do feel it is important to preserve and also to evolve within the parameters that make ATS ATS, as this beloved style, the biggest breakthrough in the dance world since Modern, is in danger of disappearing as it gives way to Tribal Fusion and World Dance Fusion (perhaps a better term for some artists).
The reason I feel we ATS dancers are not bound by only Middle Eastern music is because we have never been bound by MidEastern cultural standards, religious mores, dress codes, body adornment ideas, or anything else (hence the name, American Tribal Style!), but that we still do have those original ideas Carolena created to keep us ATS: structured group improvisation, interaction between dancers (which of course is a by-product of the improv together), a proud, stately posture, opulent costuming that uses Middle Eastern and Romani Trail ideas but that are not bound to only one country, opposition of body parts (a western idea of “long lines” as in ballet as opposed to the eastern idea of going with/non-opposition of body parts), and open-to-the-audience poses and moves vs. the eastern way of being closed to the audience (such as no arms ending across your body, rather the arm that is down is upstage and the arm that is up is downstage, as opposed to oriental styling, which would end oppositely).
You were not clear about what your teacher may have meant by “earthy” and the longer you dance the more you will hear these types of abstract descriptive terms (also should you try modern dance and other forms), so I will help you with some quick definitions. Bear in mind, however, that these are abstract and meant to evoke a feeling in the dancer. Feelings are difficult to translate in dance terms, so abstract terms developed to describe a “quality of dance” (a modern dance term adopted by many styles now) are all we have to work with. Dancers are expected to be able to access both sides of their brains - the pragmatic, logical, mathematical “masculine” side AND the abstract, imaginative, creative “female” side. Music is math and dance is feeling.
However, if you are one of the many dancers who came to The Dance from an unhappy, unhealthy or injured earlier life, or simply have a less emotional personality, you may have learned to close yourself off from feelings and from abstract thought as a defense mechanism. Occasionally this happens, and the “airy-fairy” terms mean nothing to these dancers. For this type of dancer, I would recommend when your teacher may say something like, “imagine yourself alone with your Tribe in a desert oasis, dancing with your sisters, children and brothers to the beat of earthy distant drums” or whatever, that instead you think of all the time, effort, energy and technique you’ve worked so hard to achieve and translate that into your instructor’s commands. You might try a translation such as, “I am going to pull out the last two new moves and combos we’ve been working on lately when it’s my turn to lead”.
In order to train yourself to think more abstractly, consider using flash cards with these elements and lots of other descriptive words and then emulate what they mean to you while using steps from your group’s repertoire, such as “cut, slash, liquid, temple, maiden, crone, bridge, heavy, light, percussive, god/dess, break, freeze, pull, push, glide, stomp, fly, bird, raptor, snake, eel, ice, fire, sun, moon” etc., etc.... (The words can be any noun, verb or adjective.) These types of techniques are used a lot in Modern Dance as well as in forms such as Gabrielle Roth’s 5-Rhythms/Wave format. It can also be used in Dance Therapy. I suggest you try to understand less technical and more abstract ideas so your dance can embody a full range of responses to the music, from your heart and soul and not only from your head. This will be helpful in your further studies in all classes and workshops you attend (and I suggest everyone never stop learning! That is the beginning-of-the-end of your dance career). Your face, like your steps, should change appropriately as well. You may be surprised when you try the flash card exercise to a mirror how much you can convey the abstract. However, don’t be frustrated if the abstract still doesn’t fly with you personally. Over time and practice of the sacred geometry found in all styles of belly dance, you will find yourself changing and opening to new ways of thinking and moving energy. There is no denying this dance form moves energy - whether one believes it or not, which is the best part! This type of exercise can really be expanded upon and I hope I have given you some food for thought.
Here are some common elemental terms and definitions, preceded by a bit about tempo and its relationship to these terms:
Tempo can definitely change the “feel” (mood) of a piece or a set from one “element” (mood, instrumentation and tempo) to another. Most dance sets these days are short - about 12-14 minutes for groups in order to fit the festivals, dance grams and restaurant’s requests - and made to start “earthy or fiery, then watery and/or airy, with a fiery ending”. Another way to say that could be: medium to medium-fast entrance, slow section, fast ending, outtro.
Though that formula for sets is not a “rule” you must follow, it is most common so as to leave your audience on a “high note”. If you’re thinking of a “dark, moody” piece, then your set may be constructed differently. It’s nice to include an outtro, which is usually pleasing at an “earthy” medium to medium fast tempo. Sometimes an outtro could be a reprise of the entrance. Tempo is very important, especially when it’s changed now and then. ;-D
More food for thought: since these terms are abstract, “earthy” could be slow as well - trance-like - or would that be “air” to another dancer? It may take some time, but you will figure out what these terms mean to *you* - and to me, they are malleable and are most often determined by the instrumentation (or “electronification”) and feel. Hang around with musicians, they are experts at discussing “feel”.
“Earthy” = “heavy-sounding” - music that makes you want to dance flat-footed, or with big-hipped sways side-to-side, huge shimmies and smiles to match! Earthy music can have a strong folkloric acoustic base that relies on drumbeats (often many drums) and traditional instruments (think rebaba, mizmar, ney, tabl baladi as well as smaller tablas). That would describe any music by The Musicians of the Nile, for example. It could also describe heavy bass electronica and some of our really cool remixes of traditional M.E. songs. This could also apply to North African music and it’s rebellious counterpart, Rai. Rai, like all North African music, usually has a very noticeable beat. An “earthy” tempo would most likely be medium to medium-fast, but as mentioned above that is open to interpretation and all styles just mentioned contain all elements and play various tempos. To make this more confusing, The Musicians of the Nile’s slow songs still sound earthy to me, but Rai slow songs usually are air and water to me. Guess that’s why it’s “abstract”! One rhythm that is almost always earthy is our beloved beledi/masmoudi sagir.
“Watery” - this is conveyed in music by the sound of chimes, rainsticks, sometimes digeridoo (which can also be earthy), ney and violin. Kanouns are “watery” (but can be fiery), as well as ouds and sazes (a saz can be earthy, too). Indian tablas can also sound very watery. I often think of slinky hips, traveling steps that can’t be seen by how you’re gliding, maybe with ribcage circles overlayed, body waves/undulations, figure eights....... Sometimes watery music will make you vibrate (esp. as an overlay), sometimes it will crash on rocks at the shoreline, causing you to make some larger movements or turns, sometimes it’s a babbling brook. That would depend upon - the tempo! ;-) One rhythm that sounds watery is bolero (sometimes called rhumba).
“Airy” generally means sounds that lift you up and make you want to swirl a veil or do lots of demi-pointe work and turns. Your arms and expressive torso are the most likely candidates to show off for airy music. Think again of swirling violins, ouds, santur, flutes and ney ..... or maybe just a lone flute, asking for your soul in slow motion, with no turns, no demi-pointe, just your heartbeat? Here I think of no rhythm at all, just an instrumental takseem.
“Fiery” = hot! Makes ya want jump n’ shout! Makes ya wanna move those hips! Makes you pick up the pace, too. The tempo is fast. Drum solos (or duets depending upon your thinking), though not used often by ATS groups, are great examples of fiery music. So is flamenco music, which is also earthy. Pretty much any fast song is fiery. Try fast maksoums, fast ayoubs and fast kashilamas for fire. When the music is fiery, you’ll know! This one is easiest to connect with abstractly. Until you remember smouldering embers or slow-moving lava - shoots! Ha ha!
You would be playing hand percussion during both the earth and fire elements, and can play chiftetelli, masmoudi kabir, bolero or other quiet rhythms if the music has those rhythms during the water or air part.
Meanwhile, get each person in your group to bring one or two of their newest favorite songs that are different from what you’re used to, dance to them all, take votes and make a new set or two. I try not to mix my folkloric music in with my electronica, Goth or world fusion beat music, though. Slamming together music that is too different in the same set will not feel or sound good to you or your audience.
But like everything, there are exceptions. BlackSheep has at least 2 sets that contain remixed electronica songs with actual traditional ones. The “token traditional” song is usually the slow one for us in set-making so far. We have fun using both types at one show if we have two sets. This is what BlackSheep BellyDance-HI did at our last gig: we used pure Musicians of the Nile in set one with big skirts and tassel belts (a 5-part set: medium earthy, slow airy, fast fire with some earth thrown in, slow earthy, fiery finale, outtro: “Shake That Thang” by Sean Paul). For set two we changed into our Melodias, added long fringe “skirts” and mini-flirts on top, kept the same bras and hair gardens and danced to all modern Indian and Arabic club music. Afterwards, the most compliments were on the second set.... our audiences are changing too. Let’s keep them and us happy while we preserve ATS! I think we can have our cake and eat it, too, as long as we make conscious choices and practice that improv with one another.
With Aloha, Kajira Djoumahna
Winner of 2 awards for Favorite Instructor (IAMED & Zaghareet!’s Golden Belly Awards), 2 awards for Favorite Event and Promoter for Tribal Fest (Zaghareet!’s Golden Belly Awards - thanks to all of you readers!) and some honorary awards for DVD content and outstanding achievement. Author of the Tribal Bible, 2 instructional DVDs, producer of Tribal Fest and Maui Intensives, global workshop teacher and director of BlackSheep BellyDance CA & HI. www.BlackSheepBellyDance.com |