Dancers of the Middle East in 1786

In 1784. <Louis-Françcois Cassas traveled to Constantinople (now Istanbul) with the Count of Choiseul-Gouffier. He proceeded to Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Cyprus, and Asia Minor. Cassas drew many middle-eastern images on the spot, sometimes disguised as Arab. After Cassas returned to Paris in 1792, he published them with Choiseul’s aide.

More on Cassas and other travellers that pictured Middle Eastern dancers can be found at the Bellydance Museum:
www.belly-dance.org

FUSION BELLYDANCE - the road less traveled is the most interesting direction to take

Now also available on CD baby:
cdbaby.com/cd/abdel4
AND iTUNES (just type "Abdel Hazim" in the search box )

Bait el hob
Dar al maqamah
Traveling in bellywood
Mata Hari and 10 other tracks are now available on then new Abdel Hazim CD "Fusion Bellydance"
Check it out on:
www.fusion-bellydance.com/shop.php

Hatshepsut part 3 and part 4

some tracks of the new album are put online ready to receive comment. No, no ,no don't be shy: shoot!
www.myspace.com/haremlik
is the place for work in progress
Still need a picture for the cover. If you got any suggestions, feel free!

Picture of the bellydance museum in Christies catalog

Was so proud when the new spring catalogue of the Christie's auction house dropped in my mailbox. It had one of the pictures of the Bellydance Museum inside (a Ouled Nail dancer)

Hatshepsut video posted

Hatshepsut part 1 was inpired by one of the most remarkable women in history, the queen Pharao Hatshepsut also known as Maatkare. Or rather the Queen who was the King of Egypt during the 18th Dynasty.
Her famous expedition to Punt (Hatshepsut part 2 on the Tribal bellydance CD)

Now on I-tunes

Bellydance revolutions now available on I-Tunes

phobos.apple.com/WebObject.../viewAlbum
Spice up your i-pod

Feeling released!

Bellydance revolutions available on CDbaby:

cdbaby.com/cd/abdel3

Took more time than expected but wanted to have everything right. By submitting your work to the general public you can only hope that they like it. Now everything is out of control. It's always a risk to let your creativity go without being limited by producers, musicians, record companies, managers and so on...
Being in charge of everything is not easy and it's good to have some feedback on what you do. Fortunately I was able to work with really fine musicians from Iraq, Lebanon and Belgium.

NEW track "Tribalistic" now online

Another extract of the forthcoming Abdel Hazim album "Bellydance revolutions" has been put online on the myspace page, featuring some nice kaval interventions of A. Braulio.
check it out here:
www.myspace.com/tribalistic

Besides, the picture is of Beba, a famous egyptian dancer of the first part of the 20 th century.

Out now CD "BELLYDANCE REVOLUTIONS"

Mr Abdulrasol of Iraq (picture) played qanoun on 5 tracks of the album.

Zarmina, Harmattan, Bellydance Revolutions, Beledia and Takkasim qanoun

Enneagram

Dance and surrender

My experience of taking dance classes is rather limited to a few years. One of the most important things I learned

was that I could only follow the complex movements by not using my mind but simply surrender myself to the music an

get in sync with the group. And isn't syncronicity a essential part of doing in ATS or Tribal style?
Surrender is also essential in the dance of the whirling derwish were the sheik stands for the sun and the dancers

arround him for the planets, taken to a higher plane it extend to the galaxies and beyond.
Why I tell you this? Well one of the titles of the new Abdel Hazim CD "Bellydance revolutions" is called 'Enneagram'. So just in case somebody wonders about the title, this is a part of the explanation.