Ihsan Al-Munzer - Belly Dance Disco (2LP)

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EAN code : 0194491268190
Carrier : LP
Release date : 10-01-2020

The first release in Ernesto Chahoud's 'Middle Eastern Heavens' reissue series for BBE Music, we are delighted to present Lebanese maestro Ihsan Al-Munzer's 1979 album 'Belly Dance Disco'.

Ihsan Al-Munzer's first release as a solo artist, 'Belly Dance Disco' aimed to fuse 'Western' modern music and bellydance to make it more accessible to the local audience in the late 1970s. “I wanted to put a mixture of European beat with Arabic percussion, but I made the European rhythm and harmony very easy to listen to for the Arabic ear – soft and understandable” says Al-Munzer. Today, the composer's music has made the return journey back to the West: with tracks on the album featured by hip hop artists such as Mos Def, who sampled Al-Munzer's composition 'Joy of Lina' on his 2009 song 'The Embassy'.

Notes by Natalie Shooter, a music journalist and researcher based in Beirut, edited by Will Sumsuch.

Tracklist:

- 1 -
1. Girls of Iskandariah
2. Night Entertainer
3. The Joy of Lina
4. Dance of Tenderness
5. Jamileh
- 2 -
1. A New Candle
2. Once a Year
3. A Flower of My Imagination
4. A Night At the Station
5. Love of Laura