24 December, 2010

What you get when you buy bellydance dvds in Uzbekistan

I've finally started looking at the dvds I bought in Uzbekistan. Many of them have bellydancers in costume on the covers but when you buy in the souqs in this part of the world one rule applies - what you see usually isn't what you get :-)
Anyway, it turns out the dvds were great value, costing the equivalent of about $2 and most of them have 50-70 different MTV-style clips on them, Arabic, Persian, Armenian, a few Turkish and of course lots of Uzbeki. In most of the Uzbeki dvd clips there'll be a scene showing the background dancers wearing modern clothes, then further on they'll be in bellydance costumes doing a couple of moves, and then later on the same girls in traditional Uzbek costumes. This clip is a bit different as all the dance is 'bellydance-style' though not in costume. The song's called 'Leila' the singer's Amran (Armenian or Kurkish, anyone know?)


 

22 December, 2010

Nile musicians: Kom Ombo, Egypt

If you've done a Nile cruise you might recognise these musicians who play in the garden restaurant in Kom Ombo, Egypt.