Customer Reviews

All the Best of Belly Dancing

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first half of this album is horrid! It sounds like a bad mariachi (sp?) band. However, the last half is very good and very danceable.

Half of the songs have nothing or little to do with belly dancing. I have no idea why Romanian (and perhaps some Hungarian) folk music and Eastern European traditional Gypsy music are called Belly dancing. However, this music is not bad or "horrid"; it simply should not have been put on this CD. The overall quality of the sound really IS horrible, though.

Hi I agree with the other reviewer this isn't the best cd out there. I have listened to it enough to acquire a taste for most the songs though so the music is interesting in a strange sort of way. Some of the songs have very nice beats but the vocals will scare many people from wanting to hear them while you dance lol. I've often wished this cd was recorded with higher quality too... it sounds almost as if recorded in mono instead of dolby or stereo.

The first 12 selections of this CD are identical to what you will find on Legacy Int. "Authentic Belly Dance Music" which features uncredited vocals by Esma Redzepoza. This is Macedonian Rom (Gypsy) dance music of the former Yugoslavia not middle eastern or even Romanian. Nonetheless, this music is popular for social gypsy-style belly dance.

The remaining selections are found on Legacy Int. "Exotic Excitement of Enticing Belly Dance Music". Selections 13 to 18 include arabic (?) vocals, clapping, zagreets (ululating calls), and big booming drums. They have a nomadic, perhaps Bedouin sound. Play them and they will unfurl from their desert worn carpet with a fistfull of sand too. Pops and clicks are sometimes audible on these tracks. Tribal belly dance ensembles might favor this type of music for its authentic (and less than studio quality) sound. I believe when other reviewers complained on audio quality it was after listening to these tracks.

Selections 19 and up take us away from the desert and back inside to the cabaret for belly dance solos most often found in other belly dance collections.

All the selections appear traditional and are played with traditional instruments. For a CD filled to capacity with 25 selections from 2 previous CD releases and running the gamut of styles it isn't easy to satisfy every dancer or listener. But at a low price it makes a good attempt.

I ordered this CD not really knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a lot of the songs on there were the same ones on a CD that I had lost. The item was delivered quickly and I would definatly do business with this seller again.

This CD contains many selections of folk-sounding music. There are no liner notes, or any notes at all. The sound quality is inconsistent. It's a good (not great) collection of traditional-sounding M.E. music. Twenty-five tracks makes for a pretty sizable collection on 1 CD.

I recommend this CD mostly because it's got a number of songs on it that seem to me to have cultural value. It's easy to imagine hearing these songs on the streets of the market in the Middle East. People who prefer traditional music to dance to will appreciate All the Best of Belly Dancing. I do think it's a good addition to a collection of M.E. music, but I also think there are better. Buy this one, but buy it used.

This isn't really belly dance music - it's Roumanian Gypsy music, folk music and Debke - which is not traditionally used for belly dance. It is danceable - but if you're looking for a belly dance compliation there are better ones out there. Also, the sound quality is AWFUL, the drums are very "boomy" - poor recording.