Two More Song Translations on Shira.net!

Tonight I added two more song translations to Shira.net:

1. Yaho by Hakim
2. Wahdani by Khaled Agag


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I recently had Artist NikkiJ do 4 portraits of me from dance photos. I've featured one with this blog, and I'll use the others on future blogs!

Three more song translations on Shira.net!

have added the following from Lennie's site to mine:

1) "Al Ward Gamil" by Oum Kalthoum
2) "Sahertou Minhou el-Layali" by Soumaya Baalbaki,
3) "Ya Wail" by George Abdo.

"So You Want to Learn Arabic?"

There's a new article on my web site titled "So You Want to Learn Arabic?" It talks about how to get started - how to decide what learning method you want (classes, audio cd's, videos, etc), . You can find it at www.shira.net/culture/learn-arabic.htm . This page includes links to a couple of web sites that have free tutorial info.

I also put up two lists of resources that can be used for learning Arabic:

Books and audio CD's: www.shira.net/shopping/st...ic-books.htm
Videos and computer software: www.shira.net/shopping/st...c-videos.htm

I added 3 new video opinion polls:

* Basic Arabic, Hebrew, and Yiddish by DVD
* Alef Ba Ta - Arabic for Kids
* Speak Arabic with Bill Nagler, MD


I intend to add more articles about learning to speak Arabic in the future. I plan to write a review of the Pimsleur audio CD's, and I have some other things in mind to write about. So, stay tuned!

Five more new Arabic song translations on Shira.net!

I have added the following song translations to Shira.net at www.shira.net/lyrics.htm under "Arabic":

1) Eina el Layali by Farid al-Atrache's sister Asmahan
2) Gafnouhou by Mohammed Abdel Wahab
3) Ma Gayartish Abadan by El Amira Al Saghira
4) Ya Mayla al Ghousoune by Fairuz
5) Ya Mustapha by George Abdo and many others

Lots more to come!

Bunch of Arabic song translations added to Shira.net!

I posted 7 new song translations from Lennie's "Arabic Song Translations" site, as follows:

1) Bint el Sultan by Ahmed Adaweyya
2) El Bint El Shalabia by Feiruz
3) Tisslam Eidak by Hisham Abbas
4) Ya Bajat al-Rouh by Sabah Fakhri
5) Abu Ouyoun Garea by Abdel Halim Hafez
6) Amriika by Shaban Abdel Rehim
7) Ya Ana, Ya Ana by Feiruz

See www.shira.net/music/lyric...omarabic.htm

Lots more coming in the near future!

New DVD review: "Habibi, You Are My WHAT?" by Leyla Lanty

I've just completed my first video review in a-g-e-s! It's for Leyla Lanty's new DVD, "Habibi You Are My WHAT?" which provides an introduction to some Arabic words that are widely used in song lyrics.

The short version: I liked it. A lot.

For the full-length version, see www.shira.net/videos/vrev...-my-what.htm


And if you've already seen this video, don't forget to visit my review and vote in the video opinion poll!

Had a photo session last night!

In June, I ordered yet another custom-made dress from Hanan Mahmoud when I was in Egypt. It came in early September, but it took a while for me to find a mutually-agreeable time with my photographer to get some pictures taken of it. I made two necklaces and a pair of earrings to wear with it. The veil is (I think) by Akai Silks - I bought the veil a long time ago just because I thought it was beautiful, even though it didn't go with any of the costumes I had at the time. When this dress came, I went through my collection of beautiful silk veils, and this one reminded me that it was patiently waiting to come out and play. I think it's perfect for this costume!

Last night Kaylyn and I finally found time to do the photo shoot. We had a lot of fun with it! She took 378 photos, and of those I've chosen 19 as possible ones to use for my various projects.

I'll try to upload the best photos from the shoot to the Shira.net tribe over the next few days.

The Shira.net Update Project: One Year Later

At the end of September, 2008, I began a major project - that of doing a major update to Shira.net. When I started the update, I was facing these major steps:

* Create a brand-new design that belongs in the 21st century
* Convert the whole web site of 1,000 html pages to the new design
* Go back through 7 years of accumulated material I've been meaning to post on the site and process it all

So, here I am a year later. What's the status?

Accomplishments Over the Past 12 Months

* Created the new design
* Converted 39% of the existing articles on the set from the old yellow-themed design to the new blue one
* For every converted article, I re-read it and in most cases I revised it. In some cases, the revisions were extensive.
* For every converted article, I completely reworked all the illustrations. I went back to the originals and rescanned them, worked on the lighting, fixed the color when necessary, resized them, etc. I wanted the images to represent the skills I have today with Photoshop and Illustrator rather than the skills I had 12 years ago.
* I added 800 new names to the Teacher & Performer Directory, and processed 100 updates to it.
* I added 46 new song translations. Of these, 35 were of Arabic-language songs, 8 were Hebrew, and 3 were Turkish. I have more waiting to be added.
* I added 28 new examples of artwork featuring dancers, including a new artist.
* I added 3 new video opinion polls, all for costuming-related videos.
* I added 3 new book reviews. One of those was for a costuming book, and two were for music-related books.
* I added 40 new articles, including ones written by several guest writers.



Current Status

Adding together the new material with what already resided on my web site, there are now over 1,300 html pages on Shira.net. Of these, 50% use the new blue-themed design. I have many, many more pages left to convert, and many new items still waiting to be added to the site.

I had originally hoped, when I started this project a year ago, to have the entire conversion done by now. Although I didn't come close to meeting that goal, I've achieved another that to me is even more important - greatly expanding the size and scope of the web site, and elevating the quality of the older articles that I have had a chance to convert so far. It feels great to have achieved this.

What's Next?

Well, I still have 662 html pages waiting to be converted. That will represent a large amount of work, especially as I continue to revise text and re-work images. And I have still more new material in my backlog of things waiting to be added. I won't have a shortage of things to do in the coming year!

So I invite you to stay tuned to this Facebook page. I'll continue announcing new material as I post it, and I'll also post periodic updates on the progress of the conversion.

Closing Thoughts

I'm very pleased with what I've accomplished in the past year, and I'm excited to think about the additional progress I expect to make in the year to come!

Back from Las Vegas!

I got home today from the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive. I've been to Las Vegas many times over the years, usually for high-tech industry events related to my day job. This was the first time I've gone there for a belly dance event, and I had a lot of fun!

Samira Tuala is an excellent event organizer. I was there to do a lecture on Friday, and I was very impressed at how Samira had everything organized for me. She had arranged for a sound technician who did an excellent job with setting up all the equipment well in advance. It was a lunch-time lecture, and the serving staff in the room were very courteous and accommodating toward me. I had speaker notes that I wanted to use, and Samira immediately arranged someone to print them for me. All in all, I felt very well supported. The people who attended to hear me were great too. It was a real pleasure to be there!

Aside from my experience as an instructor, I also experienced the Intensive as an attendee. There was a wide variety of classes to choose from, and I attended several of them. I think my favorite was Leyla Amir's sha'abi class. There were two evening shows, featuring a wide variety of dancers, and both were lots of fun. The shows were well-organized, with the line-up planned in advance. They started on time, and kept a good, brisk pace. And the dancers were chosen by video audition, so there was a consistently high level of performer. I spent some serious money at the vendors, and I'm looking forward to wearing those goodies. All in all, it was a great event that I can recommend without hesitation.

TWO New Song Translations on Shira.net

Tonight I posted TWO new song translations on Shira.net - Wana Maali by Warda, and Laou Ma Dakhalt ib-Rassi by Diana Haddad.

You can find both at www.shira.net/music/lyric...omarabic.htm

This brings the total number of translations on my site to 154. More to come...