Soon after I bought my turntables, I sifted through my parents' record collection, looking for anything good. I stumbled upon THREE belly dancing records. This particular sleeve had a very well-endowed woman wearing a very skimpy chain mail outfit. Incredulously, I looked at my mom, who was sitting nearby, and gasped 'Are these yours?' She told me that she even made her own costumes. Obviously, I had to have these records, which now sit next to my collection of Bollywood film themes.
The Joy of Belly Dancing
WITH "THE KING OF
BELLY DANCE MUSIC"
GEORGE ABDO AND HIS "FLAMES OF
ARABY" ORCHESTRA.
This album was released in 1975 by the Monitor International Corporation. MFS 764 (Music of the Middle East) It's George Abdo's third release on Monitor, recording during his days at the Averof Restaurant and Supper Club on Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. It features nine dances, one of which is choreographed in the included instruction booklet.
Side 1
- Hizzi Ya Nawaim - Shake and Dance Smoothly
- Raks Abdo - Abdo's Dance
- Noora Ya Noora - Noora's Dance
- Raks El Gezlan - Dance of the Gazelles
- Misirilou
Side 2
- Raks Leyla - Leyla's Dance
- A Nada - Dance, Oh Nada!
- Raks Averof - Dance at the Averof
- Raks Mustapha - Mustapha's Dance (Complete Belly Dance Routine)
Personnel:
Chorus:
- Annette Sayegh
- George Sayegh
- Margo Sayegh
Recorded for MONITOR by Intermedia Sound
Producer: Dan Cole
Engineer: Richard "Berred" Quellette
The instruction booklet describes basic belly dancing moves after telling of the benefits of belly dancing as aging-process-fighting exercise. VINA (Mrs. Florence A. Haddad) wrote the manual. After teaching belly dancing for 15 years, they let you do things like that I guess.
Let this album be your passport to the land of a thousand and one nights and to the "Joy of Belly Dancing"