Arabic Bellydance Music

Arabic bellydance music is the repertory composed and arranged for raqs sharqi, the Oriental solo dance of Egypt and the Levant. It is built on the Egyptian dance orchestra: accordion, qanun, nay, keyboards and a violin section over a percussion core of tabla, riqq, duff and sagat, playing in Arabic rhythmic modes (wahda, maqsoum, masmoudi, saidi, fallahi). A full routine follows a set dramaturgy: an opening mejance, lyrical songs, improvised taqsim passages, a tabla solo and a fast finale. The recorded genre flourished in Cairo's golden-age casinos and, from the 1950s, in a vast American LP market created by the US bellydance boom.