Metkal Kanowi and Hallah al Safi – Sa’idi singer and dancer – Part I I remember when I was learning Middle Eastern Dance in California in the early 1980’s “Egyptian Folklore” basically meant Sa’idi and the only Sa’idi musical artist we knew by name was Metkal Kenawi. We learned “Farowla” “Binti Beida” and “Tfarrak al […]
Al’ab al-Atfal – a cute girls’ dance In the midst of so many serious blogs and videos of Sa’idi Tahtib and Assaya, today I will post a light-hearted video and story, and short, only . The inspiration was a children’s dance and game that Mahmoud Reda and his researchers observed during his 1965 research trip […]
Sa’idi Tahtib and Mahmoud Reda Sa’idi Tahtib and Sa’idi raqs assaya were two of Mahmoud Reda’s favorite folkloric “dances” to be brought to the stage. Many times he has told me that both were styles that were already interesting, he was easily inspired by them, and did not have to change anything to make it appropriate […]
Sa’idi Tahtib – Local Professionals During the Journey through Egypt intensives we look at each region of Egypt from six different viewpoints, seeking to organize the information into six “jigsaw puzzles” on six different tables. Table 1: Non-Professionals “Home-style” Last week we viewed a video that showed the more informal homestyle tahtib with a “play” […]
What is the Sa’idi “Tahtib” Part II – Video Examples To continue our Sa’idi Tahtib subject, this week we have two fun videos! An Informal Game of Tahtib The first video shows the “play” aspect that the tahtib can employ. This was not a formal tournament nor was it an event that normally includes the tahtib contest. […]
The Different Dances of Egypt In our last post The Different Regions of Egypt we discussed the regions of Egypt as I’ve defined them for our dance ethnology purposes. These regions are defined based on the views of the people themselves. Each of these regions also have their own very distinctive dances. Below I have […]
