Some students who are eager to learn belly dance ask me which music I would recommend for dance practice.
Then I remember the type of music played during the classes when I first started learning belly dance: the music was mainly pop Arabic played with Arabic rhythms and traditional instruments. Songs such as Alla Aliek Ya Sidy by Ehab Tawfiq, which are upbeat and contagious are a very good example.
This may sound rather outrageous and shocking but I must confess that at the time I didn’t quite like the traditional and orchestral belly dance music. And now I understand why: they are more complex and elaborate, therefore it was challenging at the beginning to listen to and even more challenging to dance.
When I listen to music in general I try to predict what comes next: the beat, the lyrics, the changes. But when I listened to classical Egyptian music I couldn’t quite find a pattern, so I could not predict what would come next. It was quite frustrating; I wasn’t used to its structure and rhythms.
As I explored belly dance music, learned the rhythms and trained my ears, I started to polish my taste and appreciate more refined and well structured pieces. Then it occurred to me: ‘How should I dance to that kind of music?’. I realised that it was more intricate than I first imagined.
So in order to dance well you should learn the music well. In order to learn the music well you should learn from a basic level and increase its complexity as your knowledge increases. In other words, beginners music to beginners class, improvers music to improvers class and so on.
It is the same when we learn to play a percussion instrument: you learn the notes, the rhythms, how to read music; you play simple patterns slowly and then with time (and a lot of practice!) the complexity and speed of which you play will increase and improve.
Hence I believe that pop Arabic songs are the best for basic levels of belly dance learners to practice because they are simpler and they have Arabic elements in it i.e. rhythms and instruments. It is also highly recommended to listen to the traditional songs to start training the ears.
However there are some pop Arabic songs that are westernised and the only element which is Arabic in them are the lyrics. Those songs have no Arabic culture nor belly dance content in it. They are easy listening because we are from a western culture and that’s why a lot of people prefer them.
For pop Arabic artists I recommend the following artists (non westernised songs): Ehab Tawfiq, Sameera Tawfiq, Nancy Ajram, Saad (Alsoghayar), Hakim, Hoda. Haifa Wehbe.
For traditional Egyptian music and music for tribal belly dance I strongly recommend Hossam Ramzy and Phil Thornton. Helm, Beats Antique, Upper Egypt Ensemble are very good too.
Sources for belly dance music:
- Hossam Ramzy: www.hossamramzy.com
- Maqam: www.maqam.com
- Radio Bastet: www.radiobastet.com
- Bellydance Superstars: www.bellydancesuperstars.com
- Itunes: www.apple.com/uk/itunes
- Amazon: www.amazon.com
I hope you enjoy it! 
