Baladi Plus: Egyptian Dance Music

Hossam Ramzy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arc Music
• ASIN: B000001IAJ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,400 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #32 in Music > World Music > Africa > Egypt

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More great dance music from Mr. Ramzy!, February 10, 2002

By 

Lamus (Monroe, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baladi Plus: Egyptian Dance Music (Audio CD)

Opening with a soul stirring Rebaba taxim, Baladi Plus just gets better and better.

1) "Night Foal", the opening piece, is a mesmerizing taxim on Rebaba and Mizmar

2) Arabian Knights is a "rock on" Saaidi composition inspired by the famous dancing Arabian Stallions. This is the music I associate with the Ghawazii dancers and I can't resist dancing to it every time I hear it. I especially enjoy dancing with my cane on this one.

3) Mashalla is a percussive piece focusing on the Masmoudi and Maqsum rhythms. It's very hard to sit still when Hossam Ramzy plays! A good drum solo piece.

4) Alla Hai is a lovely heavy, pulsing Zaar.

5) Baladi we Hetta is a very Mohammed Ali Street selection with it's hot accordion taxims and the driving rhythm. I can easily imagine Lucy dancing to this.

6)Wahda We Bas is a combination of the rhythms Wahda Kebira and Samaai which is referred to in the liner notes as "food for the soul" and I find that very appropriate. The piece has the flow of a Chifti and features beautiful oud taxims and crisps clear drumming.

7) Malfuf Ala Westi is a great dance piece featuring the accordion again accompanying the Malfuf rhythm which the liner notes say is the standard rhythm for stage entrances or exits.

8) Roah Albi is a great driving drum solo with a lot of exciting changes and is very reminiscent of the finale piece of Ramzey's Rhythms of the Nile recording. This is good drumming!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great!, August 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Baladi Plus: Egyptian Dance Music (Audio CD)

If you are a Middle Eastern dancer or drummer and want to something more traditional without a lot of synthesizers and organs this is great. The drumming is wonderful.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long songs, consistent rhythm very useful, January 18, 2001

By 

T. Francis "Lady Amina" (Little Rock, Arkansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baladi Plus: Egyptian Dance Music (Audio CD)

This CD ends up being one of the most used CDs in my collection as I use it to teach beginning students to dance. It has long pieces of music, with steady consistent rhythms throughout the music. This quality makes it excellent for teaching beginning students to dance, as they are not ready for swoops, dips, and fast switches in tempo that most Middle Eastern music contains which more experienced dancers grow to love. For someone searching for an ethnic sound, with authentic instrumentation, this is also an excellent CD. Also the long tracks might be monotonous for solo performances, but it could serve a troupe quite well. It would be particularly of benefit for those who are members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, as am I, who are searching for an authentic sound. The songs are certainly not boring, but are quite fun to dance to. A bonus is the first song, a short 2 ½" minute, predominately flute piece that different from all the other pieces on the CD, which is nice to finish stretching out and warming up to. While the songs are long by Western standards, the rhythm generally monotonous, this can often be of great benefit for certain situations, and all the songs are certainly enjoyable. I certainly highly recommend it (as I do all of Hosam Ramsey's music that I've heard), particularly for beginning dancers.