I'm so happy to hear it, Angelina. I can't wait to get your updates as you progress through the challenge ❤️

Me too!!! 

Hi Jacqueline, The title is the name of the song. There are a few different versions available on Itunes, etc

That makes me so happy ❤️

https://davidhinojosa.bandcamp.com/track/maqsuqui

You piqued my interest to do a deeper dive into this. Stay tuned!

These changes were:Plastic-headed darbuka drums, which use materials like Mylar, were developed in 1957 by Remo Belli and Sam Muchnick. This invention led to the creation of the Remo drumhead company. These plastic heads change the sound of the drum over the animal skin heads. The plastic heads allowed for sharper, louder accents on the tech and doom and also evolved new sounds like the pop or slap. Dancers always find creative ways to translate the sound; we can clearly see the Raqs Sharqi accents around this time also getting sharper and isolated. Another thing happened around this time... the ability to record music. This technological advance opened up new ways for musicians to create music specifically for dancers. Based on this info, I would mark the modern-style Raqs Sharqi drum solo as starting in the 60's.  Here is a clip of Azza Sherif dancing an amazing drum solo in 1978. https://youtu.be/r9w8ZQm3eVQ?si=ALaSGx-bBcmVXKqy

Hi Melanie,Great question!!! I need to disclose that I am not a scholar; that is important because academic scholars scour the available history to find answers to such great questions as yours. As far as I know, we do not have any definitive data on that. But I can share a few things with you. Drums are the oldest recorded instruments. Humans have been dancing to drums literally forever. For example, the Indian Tabla dates back two millennia. We know there are ancient Indian dances that were directly linked to the tabla. Some of those traditions have been traced to the migration of the Romani and Domari, who ended up in places like Egypt, North Africa, etc. Pharaonic people in Egypt also played drums. Now, bringing it to modern times, Raqs Sharqi evolved with live music, of which drums were always a part. You can see dancers accentuating the drum rhythm and accents in the 30,40s and 50s. However, there were some changes in the 50s that may have led the way to the modern drum solos. 

Hello Alicja,These classes will help anyone in the follow role prepare for couple dancing. For example, you can take these classes, go to a social event, and likely be able to follow with a lead dancer. We are considering bringing a few couples classes here, too, but the demand has not been sufficient to do it just yet.

Thank you Hanne!  I am going to make a full choreo of Muwashahat for Raqs Online