Aziza of Cairo at Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival 2016

Cairo shows to remember vol. 2
'One song, one night, two dancers’ part 1: Aziza ❤️
My love affair with the kind of music that I call ‘sad shaabi’ or ‘tarab shaabi’ (not proper names but let's use them for the sake of this post) started in 2015 with famous 'Ana Mesh 3arefny' by Abd El Baset Hamouda (other representatives of the style: Tarek el Sheikh, Ahmed Sheba, Ahmed Saad, some songs of Mahmoud el Leithy and Hakim). I was intoxicated by and totally lost in this music! At that time I didn't even dream to bellydance to it publicly but I danced to it almost every day just for myself. Later, in the beginning of 2016, new hit of this genre 'Law l3ebt Ya Zahr' by Ahmed Sheba (one of the biggest Egyptian hits of the decade imo) was released and I remember being sooo addicted to it. I traveled to Cairo for Easter that year and was lucky to watch the star of this song's video clip (Alla Kushnir) dancing to it live in VIP Cabaret on Dragon Boat. I was in bellydance heaven - my dream to witness a bellydancer in Egypt dancing to my beloved 'sad shaabi' live came true! 😍 It soon became obvious to me that it is in fact one of the most commonly (belly)danced to music genres in Egypt. Just we, in our festival circuit didn't see it because of two reasons: the fact that filming is strictly prohibited in those venues and the stigma that many master teachers in our community put on the ‘cabaret dancers' placing them often in a juxtaposition to the 'real raqs sharki artists'...

Fast forward to a few months later and my first ever Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival (I would never believe back then that I will be invited to teach at this festival 2 years later)! ❤️ The song was already a huuuuge hit and two superstar dancers danced to it just in the opening gala show. Today enjoy the first one: my love, Egyptian dancer Aziza! 😍 Except for gorgeous Aziza and her amazing dance there are two things in this video worth mentioning - her costume which is a reference to the song’s lyrics and the fact that she made the legendary bellydancer Lucy of Cairo dance with her! 🤩 For her grand finale Aziza chose 'Kalam be kalam' by Hakim.
Can you guess who the second dancer who danced to the same song that night was? 😁 Stay tuned because after Christmas I will share part two 😀🎄