"BELLYDANCE NEW YORK" CD :: neon

At the end of April, World Dance New York will release an album of traditional bellydance music arranged by Amir Naoum Chehade and Elias Sarkar. "Bellydance New York with Amir Naoum" features folk songs of the Middle East and original compositions and improvisations by Amir Naoum and Elias - all traditional favourites of our NYC bellydancers, heard at the Lafayette Grill & Bar where Amir Naoum's band plays every Friday night for the Mediterranean Nights party. Both Amir and Elias are veterans of the Middle Eastern music scene in New York: Amir is an amazing Arabic-style percussionist, one of the best in the US, and a master teacher of Arabic percussion, while Elias is famous for his spectacular work playing oud, violin and for his incredible voice you can hear on the new album.

The music was originally arranged for Tanna Valentine's upcoming DVD (end of April) - "Bellydance Show Basics for Beginners" - an instructional program teaching beginners step-by-step how to create a perform their own bellydance show within the classic American Cabaret format.

For the instructional purposes Amir and Elias created a 6-minute mini-show soundtrack, comprising all the traditional parts of the American Cabaret format - entrance, veil, party song, ciftetelli, drum solo and finale. The mini-show is a true gem that will certainly be appreciated by both students and professional dancers interested in music for shorter performances. The album also presents full-length song tracks with useful variations: for instance, the gorgeously arranged and recorded "Lama Bada" has two versions - instrumental, and the one with lyrics featuring the stunning vocal work by Elias Sarkar. Track titles indicate rhythms (and often instruments) used in each piece.

We hope that this CD will serve as a great learning and instructional tool, in addition to offering beautifully-arranged and superbly-recorded pieces for artists performing classic bellydance. If you teach bellydance, please consider this album for use in your classes, and if you like it, please recommend it to your students and friends. If you would like to review the album, let me know.

The cover model for "Bellydance New York" is Tanna Valentine, all photography is by Lina Jang.

For download, the album is available at iTunes -- see the 2-page iMix below, and also at Amazon.com, where you can now download each track individually, just like at iTunes. To view individual track downloads at Amazon, follow this link: "Bellydance New York". Or you can purchase the jewel-case packaged CD at Amazon and other stores.