Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe

♬ Hebbena

♬ Nouni

Mohamed «Mike» Hegazi and his Golden Guitar was from Lebanon, or at least I think he was…

Belly Dance is a Western name for an Arabic style of dance developed in the Middle East. In Europe, it is sometimes called “Oriental Dance”. Similarly, In Turkish it is referred to as “Oryantal Dansı” (“Dance of the East”). Some American devotees refer to it simply as “Middle Eastern Dance”. In the Arabic language it is known as Raqs Sharqi رقص شرقي (“Eastern Dance”) or sometimes Raqs Baladi رقص بلدي (“National” or “Folk” Dance). The term “Raqs Sharqi” may have originated in Egypt.

I have not been able to find any information on Mohamed «Mike» Hegazi or his Golden Guitar.

If you have any information, please contact me.

Catalog number 01GVDL304 on Voix de l’Orient, manufactured by EMI of Greece in 1979.

Enjoy.

♬ Ya.. Ya.. Ya

Mayada was from Lebanon.

Her sister was Taroub, who was a well known singer in both Lebanon and Turkey as well, and they both were of Turkish descent. Mayada had a very short lived career from mid to late Sixties, recording few singles and singing in night clubs in Beirut. From this single, you can hear an influence of the Yé Yé Girl movement from France.

Thanks to Hany Zaki for the information.

Catalog number BP 145 on Brotherphone of Beirut, Lebanon. No other information is available.

♬ For Your Information

Back when I first started this whole insanity, one band that I was constantly reading about was The Cedars from Lebanon. They are most noted for using saz or oud instead of electric guitar on most of their songs, making them one of the best examples of East meets West.

On their first single they went by the name The Sea-ders, but on their second single they switched to The Cedars. This particular single was originally released in Israel, but due to the fact that the Six Days War had just broke out, most copies were destroyed. Soon after, The Cedars moved to London where they recorded two more singles. But after their fourth single, Decca decided to drop the band. Eventually they got into some serious money problems, sold all their instruments and equipment, broke apart and were forced to go back to Lebanon.

In 1969, Decca decided to re-issue this single in Turkey, were it was a big hit. In fact this song was covered by Mavi Işiklar and the B side “Hide If You Want To Hide” was covered by Selçuk Alagöz, both in Turkish (and both are featured on the Grey Past compilation “Turkish Delights“).

Catalog number 68.107 on Decca, manufactured in Turkey. Release in 1969.