The music
In Egypt, music is above all a music of popular essence. The music is in the street. It is enough to circulate in the popular neighborhoods of Cairo or Alexandria to hear these melodies with long waving phrases, punctuated by shivering or plaintive singing and suddenly extinguished as killed speaks silence. Radio, television, and even cinema are a big consumer of these Arab music hall singers. On these trestle artists such as a Mahmûd Yassine or a Monarem Fûad, a Naima Akef or an Amir Rostum, hangs the unforgettable shadow of the very famous singer Umm Kulthûm. Often compared to the French Edith Piaf, Umm Kulthûm, whose real name Fât-tima Ibrahim, appeared for the first time in 1922 on a stage in Cairo and achieved a triumph. His fame soon spread to the Arab world. She will be the interpreter of many poets who will write for her very popular songs. She will also perform several roles in the cinema. When he died in 1975, his audience would make him a national funeral.
The background of Egyptian music is generally provided by an instrumental section where the sounds of the nây, the flute, the tûd, the lute, and the târ, the tambourine, mingle. There is sometimes the roud, a guitar that also accompanies some singers like Muhammad Abd el-Wahab or the unforgettable Farid el-Atrach. The very marked rhythm reminds that the music is always very close to the dance.
The dance
Of course, the most popular choreographic expression in Egypt remains belly dancing. Slow, almost motionless at first, the movement accelerates quickly and becomes frenetic. The dancer, lascivious in the middle of her transparent veils, hair undone, boat in scientists ghang, swaying. Suddenly his stomach quivers, his pelvis vibrates. His whole body twists and stiffens. And each movement triggers powerful "Allah! Pushed by the virile assistance, at the height of fever.
