NOTE TO DANCERS: This song list is not comprehensive and our style and tempo may be different from the recordings you are familiar with (for example, we CAN play "Miserlou" as a slow piece, but left to our own devices we play it is a moderately fast piece.

Also not listed is an extensive selection of taqsims (improvised pieces) and rhythm supported taqsims.

You are welcome to ask us for a specific tune, or tell us what you plan to do in your show and we can suggest songs of appropriate tempo or style.

You are also welcome to request a specific song by providing us with a recording. We may already know it, may already partially know it... but it is also possible it may take as much as 30 days if it is a complex piece.

If you don't know how to choose, these are the questions that will make it easiest for US to choose for you:

1. Have you danced to live music much?
2. Do you have a specific specialty or strong point you would like us to emphasize for this performance?
Are you comfortable/do you enjoy "exotic" rhythms like 6/8 or 9/8?
Are you very familiar with classical Arabic music?
Would you describe yourself as fiery or earthy? Or more smooth or elegant? Or some other way?

This song list is just to get you started if you want to pick out your own music...our song list is actually much more extensive and we are always adding.

• ACHERET SIROON - Armenian. Upbeat.  
• AGONIA - Greek. Slow.
• AH YA ZAIN - Egypt Folk. Upbeat.
• ALA DAL'ONA DEBKE - Usually used for Debke line dance. Upbeat.
• AL 'ALBI YA'SHAQ KULLI GAMIL
• AL 'ATABA GHAZZAZ - Upbeat... has a distinctive stop. Old Arabic.
• AL MAYA - Med tempo folky
• AAL NADDA - Med tempo... we actually like putting it on a Saudi rhythm for Khaleegi dance
• ALABINA - Med. Kind of a Spanishy feel
• ALF LEYLA WA LEYLA* - Dance classic. Lots of stops and changes. Should know this before dancing.
• AMAN AMAN
• AMEN ARAVOD - aka Erev Shel Shoshanim. Slow
• ANDAH ALAIK*  - Dance classic. Lots of stops and changes. Should know this before dancing.
• ARA VAI VAI - Upbeat 6/8. Armenian.
• AZIZA - Dance classic. Drops to a VERY short slower Saidi segment near the end.
• BAHLEM BIK - Dance classic. Upbeat
• BEN BEN - Good finale
• BINT AL SHALIBIYYA - Med tempo. We do this with several different rhythms.
• BIR DEMET YASEMIN - Slow
• CAIRO - Slow
• CAPKIN CAPKIN - Slow but not so emotional
• CHIFTY TAQSIM - improvised taqsim on chiftitelli rhythm.
• DERE DERE 9/8 - Med tempo 9/8
• EDDIE THE SHIEK'S BOLERO - SLOW bolero. Nice choice for prop work with floor.
• GAROUN GAROUN
• GOLE SANGAM - slow
• HABIBI YA AYNI - Has stops. Not played exactly like best known recordings. See Nour El Ein comments below.
• HABINA -Classic dance piece. Upbeat
• HADOUNI - med. We like to do it as a Saidi, but we can modify that.
• HALA LA LA LAYYA - slow
• HIJAZ FINALE - Good finale. Best if you know it already
• ISTAMEM BABJIM - Med. Upbeat.
• JEMILLEH - a slow take on a John Bilzikjian original song
• LAILET HOB*  - Dance classic. Lots of stops and changes. Should know this before dancing.
• LAMA BADA YATA THANNA - 10/8 - med or slow
• LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - slow
• LAYLA (similar to Eddie Kochak's version) - Med, to a strong chiftitelli in the middle, and back to Med
• LONELY SHEPHERD (not exactly like Zamfir recording) - slow flutey piece
• MANDOUBALA - slow
• MASTIKA - 9/8 Sulukule
• MASTOUM MASTOUM - upbeat Persian
• MAVI MAVI - fast
• MAZAMIR*  - Dance classic. Lots of stops and changes. Should know this before dancing. Let us know if you want it in advance as we need to brush it up.
• MISERLOU - we do both as a med tempo and as a slow piece
• MIZMAR BROS/GHAWAZEE
• MIZMAR TAQSIM
• MOSAFERE AZIZAM - Persian. Slow
• NAR EL HOB
• NIBTIDI MNEEN al-HIKAYA - upbeat
• NIHAVENT - slow
• NINA NAI NAI - upbeat
• NINAH WAL JAMAR JIRAN - slow
• NORITS KAROON YEGAV - slow
• NOUR EL EIN - commonly known as "Habibi" due to the "Habibi, habibi, habibi" chorus on the original recording
• NOURA NOURA - med
• OLMAZ 6/8 - upbeat 6/8
• PEROM POM PERO - upbeat
• PRINCESS OF CAIRO OPENING PIECE - Lots of stops. Best if you know it already
• PSEUDO PSULTRY PSALTRY - A take on a Brothers of the Baladi slow piece
• RAGHIZI APOPSE I KHARDHIA - slow. Very Greek.
• RAMPI RAMPI 9/8 - Very upbeat 9/8
• RAQS SHARQI 7/8 - A nice 7/8
• SABA SAMIR - med
• SALAM ALLAY - Saidi - we do it somewhat like the Hossam Ramzy version live
• SARERI HOUIN MERNEM 6/8 - Slow... feels like a waltz
• SAWWAH*  - Dance classic. Cheerful & upbeat. Has a dramatic stop that has to be hit.
• SENI SEVDI GEONLUM YINE SEVECEK - slow
• "SHETI YA" DEBKE - Song usually for Debke line dance
• SPECTACULAR RHYTHMS FINALE - Good finale. Best if you know it already
• SWEET GIRL - this is at a line dance tempo
• TA MAVRA MATIA SOU - slow and dramatic, moving on to a fast. Has a sudden ending usually, but we mitigate that live
• TAMRAHENNA - Lots of stops. Best if you know it already
• TIEN AFTO - slow. Greek
• TOMZARA 9/8 - slower 9/8
• TUTTA FINALE - Good finale. Best if you know it already
• USKADAR - upbeat Turkish folk classic
• WAQFI 'AA RAS EL-TAL'AA - Lebanese med tempo
• YA EYN MOULAYYETEYN - Saidi
• YA GAMEEL YA GAMEEL
• YA MOUSTAFA - We play this as a bland folk song going into a funky synchopated rhythm.
• YESILIM - Best for finale. Usually features cowbell.
• ZANOUBA - Med upbeat
• ZEINA (not Abdo version) - Usually has sung chorus of "Zeina Zeina Ya Zeina Ya Zeina Zeeeeeeeiiina" Abdo version has "Zaina Zaina. [pause] Ho Ya Zaina"
• ZEMIR ATIK - slow

* You probably should be fairly familiar with a song listed with an asterisk because it has sudden really strong changes.

We are also comfortable doing music for Zeffa/Shamadan, Ghawazee, Tunisian and other specialty material. Folk and line dance music from all over the Mediterranean is also usually within our repertoire.

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