This week's song
Last night, I put my students through the emotional wringer! We were dancing to Ana Mosh Arefni. I talked about the nature of the lyrics, so that they would not be dancing it with big smiley happy faces, or anything inappropriate like that. But even if I hadn't explained the lyrics, I'm fairly sure they would have had a clue, just from the nature of Hamouda's voice. The whole piece is a cauldron of seething, roiling emotion. I *love* this song. I may have to perform to it sometime.
In carrying out my researches for my students, I found this vid, which I'm going to refer them all to. It's so freakin' sha'abi, it makes me ache! From the complete unprepossessingness of Abdel Basset Hamouda, to the terrible fashions, to the whole stoner quality of the event. It is sha'abi in a nutshell, and pish and tush to all those dancers who do cutesy "sha'abi". You've gotta have grit!
And then I found the film that it was performed in. I haven't got the bandwidth to watch it, but it's saved on my "to watch when I've got free wifi" list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si-xN5X0eFc
In carrying out my researches for my students, I found this vid, which I'm going to refer them all to. It's so freakin' sha'abi, it makes me ache! From the complete unprepossessingness of Abdel Basset Hamouda, to the terrible fashions, to the whole stoner quality of the event. It is sha'abi in a nutshell, and pish and tush to all those dancers who do cutesy "sha'abi". You've gotta have grit!
Click to viewAnd then I found the film that it was performed in. I haven't got the bandwidth to watch it, but it's saved on my "to watch when I've got free wifi" list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si-xN5X0eFc