This auction is for your choice of ONE brand new, shrink-wrapped Folkloric Middle Eastern and North African Belly Dance Music CD from Aisha Ali and the Associated Research Arabic Folklore (ARAF). These CDs retail for $18.00 and are ideal for many styles of Middle Eastern bellydance, or pure listening pleasure. They feature many types of hand drums, stringed, and wind instruments authentically recorded in the Middle East and North Africa.

When you win this auction for one CD of your choice, you may choose as many ARAF / Aisha Ali CDs as you like at that winning bid price for each one!
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For sound clips, and more details about each CD, click on the CD images or CD title below to view the CD item in our store. We carry all of Aisha Ali's CDs, and a wide variety of Middle Eastern CDs. 

This auction is for your choice of any ONE CD from Aisha Ali / ARAF

Aisha Ali / ARAF ~ Music for the Oriental Dance
Aisha Ali / ARAF ~ Music of the Fellahin
Aisha Ali / ARAF ~ Music of the Ghawazee
Aisha Ali / ARAF ~ Music of the Ouled Nail
Aisha Ali / ARAF ~ Tunisian Dances
Aisha Ali / ARAF ~ Tunisian Rhythms

See Also our similar auctions for Gypsy Caravan CDs and DVDs, Solace CDs, Uncle Mafufo CDs, Omar Faruk Tekbilek CDs, and Tim Rayborn CDs.

Price and Shipping Details - Yes! We Combine Shipping!

Aisha Ali / ARAF - CDs - Any ONE CD
Retail Price: $18.00 + Tax and shipping
We encourage you to buy two or more of our items: COMBINE your items and SAVE on shipping! Please, Pay for Auction within 5 Days, or let us know if you are viewing more items.

Aisha Ali Bio

Aisha Ali has contributed to the field of dance as a performer, teacher, choreographer, documentary filmmaker, and producer of audio recordings. She has done independent research throughout Egypt and North Africa, collecting folkloric traditions that were fast disappearing.  At present she is working on a series of instructional videos. Ms. Ali tours internationally and directs the Aisha Ali Dance Company based in Los Angeles.

Aisha Ali is an internationally recognized authority on the dances of Egypt and North Africa. Following her successes in the United States, she performed widely in Europe and the Middle East. For over twenty years she directed her folkloric ensemble, the Aisha Ali Dance Company.

In 1971, Aisha traveled to the Middle East to observe firsthand many traditional styles of dance not seen in the United States. She made subsequent visits to Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia from 1973 to 1997 to document folkloric materials that were fast disappearing. As a result, she has released numerous audio and video recordings.

In 1973, while a featured soloist at the Municipal Theater in Sfax, Tunisia, the Maison de la Culture asked Aisha to form a dance company. Later that year she stayed among the Ouled Nal in Algeria, a tribe famous for its dancing women. Over the years she has frequently danced at celebrations in Upper Egypt with the Banat Maazin, a Nawar gypsy family of Ghawazee.

In the United States, Aisha directed the North African performers at the Los Angeles Olympics opening festival in 1984 and was soloist at the grand opening of the LA Festival in 1993. In 1994, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the American Academy of Middle Eastern Dance in New York, and in 2000, she was an honored speaker and soloist at the International Conference of Middle Eastern Dance. Recently she was featured in a folk dance program at Cornell University.

For many years, Aisha contributed articles to Arabesque magazine, and continues to write articles for Habibi. She has contributed articles to numerous publications, including an article on the Ouled Nal published by the International Institute for the Study of Islam, the section on Egypt for the JVC/Smithsonian "Anthology of World Music and Dance," and articles on Algeria and the Ouled Nal in the International Encyclopedia of Dance published by Oxford University Press.

In addition to teaching classes at her Los Angeles studio, Aisha gives lectures and demonstrations at universities such as UCLA and Cornell, and conducts workshops and master classes in North America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. She is presently editing her latest Egyptian footage. 

Instrumentation Definitions

• Arghul - (Pronounced "AR gool") - also spelled argul, arghoul, or yarghul (Palestine), is a traditional musical instrument of ancient Egypt The arghul is a double-reed woodwind  that is shaped like a long, narrow recorder Arghuls are played in Egypt and other Arab nations as an accompaniment to belly dancing and other types of Arab musical performances. Unlike the similar mijwiz, the arghul only has fingering holes on one of the instrument's pipes.

• Arabic Tabla - (Pronounced "AR a bik TAB la") hand drum, also known as darbuka or dumbek
  Bendir - (Pronounced "BIN deer") Mostly found in Morocco and Algeria, this large-frame drum is 20cm deep and made from goatskin and wood. Up to 70 cm in diameter it has 2 strings stretched under the hide to produce a buzzing timbre. It produces the key sound for the Berbers. The Bendir is often decorated with drawings or sentences from the Koran, using henna as the paint.

• Conga Drum - (Pronounced "KOHN-ga.") A conga is a group dance of African roots popular in many Latin American countries. The rhythm for the dance is also called conga and is commonly played and danced during Carnival (Carnaval).

• Davel - (Pronounced "DAH vel") Percussion instrument

• Def - (Pronounced "def") This is a Middle Eastern frame drum which looks like a large tambourine.

• Dumbek - (Pronounced "DOOM bek") This is the hourglass-shaped Arabic drum. May also be spelled Dumbec, Doumbek, Doumbec, or Darbuka. Traditionally, dumbeks were made of ceramic, with the head made of either goatskin or fish skin. In modern times, many dumbeks have synthetic heads, and the drum body may be made of metal.

• Flute - ("Pronounce "floot") A musical wind instrument, consisting of a hollow cylinder or pipe, with holes along its length, stopped by the fingers or by keys which are opened by the fingers. The modern flute is closed at the upper end, and blown with the mouth at a lateral hole.

• Kawala - (Pronounced "KA wah la") similar to nai, though usually shorter, used in folk music

• Mismar - (Pronounced "MIZZ mar") This musical instrument, which resembles a Zurna, produces a loud, blaring sound. It is a member of the oboe family of musical instruments.

• Nai - (Pronounced "nay") a flute-like wind instrument (also ney, nye, nay). Played predominantly in Middle Eastern music, it is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found in the excavations at Ur. This indicates that the ney has been played continuously for 4,500-5,000 year, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in US or Canadae. It is a forerunner of the modern flute.

• Oud - (Pronounced "ood") Sometimes spelled Ud. This is a musical instrument commonly used in Arabic, Turkish, and Armenian music which was the forerunner of the European lute. It has 11 strings and no frets. The melody is produced through plucking the strings. Literally, the word "oud" means "wood", and the instrument is made by gluing thin tapered strips of wood edge to edge. The glue line is usually no more than a thousandth of an inch wide! The oud was introduced by the Persians to Arabia in the Middle Ages, and passed to Europe through Islamic Spain.

• Rebaba - (Pronounced "ruh BAH buh") Also sometimes spelled Rababa. This is a stringed instrument, typically used in music of the Said (Upper Egypt). It has one or two strings. The music appearing on cassette tapes or CD's by Metkal Kanawi uses rebabas extensively.

• Riqq - (Pronounced "reek") This is the Arabic word for tambourine. It is sometimes spelled Riq or Reque.

• Sagat - (Pronouced "suh GOT".) This is the Arabic name for finger cymbals, and means "small metal trays". Sometimes spelled Zagat

• Saz - (Pronounced "sahz".) This is a gourd-shaped Turkish stringed instrument, resembling a lute only with a smaller base. It has frets whose positions can be adjusted, enabling the musician to get varying quarter tones. Different maqams require the frets to be set in different positions. The saz was the ancestor of the Greek bouzouki.

• Tabla - (Pronounced "TAB la") hand drum, also known as darbuka or doumbek

• Tabla beladi - (Pronounced "TAB la BEL a dee") similar to bass drum, played with a club and a switch

• Tar - (Pronounced "tar") This is a Middle Eastern frame drum which looks like a large tambourine. Another name for it is Def.

• Zills - (Pronounced "ZILLS".) Sometimes spelled Zils. This is the Turkish name for finger cymbals.

• Zumara - (Pronounced "zoo MAR ah".) A single reed instrument with a backward cut. Made with a single tube.

• Zurna - (Pronounced "ZERN uh".) This is a type of horn used in Turkish folk music, which is a member of the oboe family of musical instruments. It produces a loud, very ethnic-sounding tone.

• More instruments: Ashiko, bendir, block, cymbals, chimes, djembe, doiras, garabas, gong, bass kalimbamizwiz, shakers.