DANCERS BACKSTAGE RITUALS: KARIM NAGI

 

Karim Nagi in a recent performance

Karim Nagi is a multi-talented musician, composer, folkloric dancer and deejay.  His performances are so high-energy and in the moment, and his connection to the music is so great, that he could probably   re-animate a room full of corpses. Born and raised in Egypt, he’s spent most of his life in America, though his global  travel schedule for teaching and performing is so hectic, I once heard him answer the question "Where do you live?" by saying:

  “In an airport!”

Karim in  the midst of a Saidi performance

Just in case you’re not familiar with his work, he’s released numerous instructional DVDs and a variety music CDs, both under his own name and as DJ Turbo Tabla. Since 1999, Karim has headed up the traditionally oriented Sharq Music Ensemble, and his Arab Dance Seminars routinely sell out months in advance.  He’s having one in New Mexico this November, but unless you’ve already secured your spot,  or if by come miraculous twist of fate someone drops out, there’s no way you’ll get in.

 His program Arabiqa educates   elementary school kids at over three hundred schools around the USA, but his educational efforts don’t stop there by any means.  In fact, his knowledge of his native Egyptian music dance and culture is so great, that he’s presented and lectured at many Ivy League universities, including Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Yale and many others.

We’ve performed together- in many places- for quite a few years, and in 2013, we also recorded a song “Heart Full Of Cairo” together- if you're interested in hearing it, you can find it on iTunes or Amazon.  Karim is  always a pleasure to work with because he’s so knowledgeable, and  a total perfectionist whose open to obsessive compulsive rehearsing and preparation.  But  he’s  also as much fun off stage as he is onstage… I once had the (dubious!) pleasure of hearing him  do an impromptu after-hours rendition of Ted Nugent’s hit “Cat Scratch Fever”, sung in a tongue-in-cheek Upper Egyptian Fellahin accent while he accompanied himself on the tabla !  In spite of-or maybe  because of incidents like this, I think he’s an absolute genius…though he’ll probably roll his eyes when he reads this. 

Karim & me  by Maharet Hughes

 Recently, he’s started a new four-hour-long workshop,  “Music Raqs”, which is a kind of “literacy program” for dancers who want to be able to better understand- and teach- oriental dance in a comprehensive way. In addition to music theory and technical info, he also goes into cultural and linguistic details that will no doubt be illuminating to dancers of any level, from absolute beginner to seasoned pro.  He’s putting on this workshop in Los Angeles this coming Sunday, October 26, and I’m very excited about it.

  Since Karim’s shows are so entertaining and high-energy, I thought he’d be a terrific candidate for my “Dancers Backstage Rituals” series.  So here’s what he has to say about his show preparation, in his own words:

“ I shine my boots. I iron my galabaya. I tape my assaya. I test my drum microphone. I stretch my legs and arms. I wrap the kufiya. I close the phone two hours prior. I recite the Quran's Surat al-Falak. I chose which sagat goes on which finger. ‎I do one hundred jumping jacks. I eat nothing for four  hours before. I watch most of the acts before me, to get an impression of the evening's overall message.

I choose a belt buckle. “

  I think he left  out one teensy thing though… the fact that he loves what he does so much, it can’t help but shine through in his performances!

#

   SUNDAY OCT. 26, 2014: LOS ANGELES

 KARIM TEACHES MUSIC RAQS:

 4 HOUR WORKSHOP ON ARABIC MUSICAL LITERACY FOR DANCERS

Third Street Studio: 8558 W. 3rd St. Los Angeles California

 $50 before October 24: or $60 cash at the door

 Info  & registration here:

http://www.karimnagi.com/musicraqs/

VISIT KARIM’S WEBSITE HERE:

http://www.karimnagi.com/

DOWNLOAD “HEART FULL OF CAIRO” HERE:

http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Cairo-feat-Pleasant-Gehman/dp/B00BN074PU

BEHIND THE MUSIC

  Long ago in a land far away, I was a confirmed card-carrying rock and roll chick.  Before I started belly  dancing professionally, I was one of the original punks on the scene in Los Angeles; I fronted three bands that put out records and toured all over the place, I was also a music journalist and club booker for years. But then my life got taken over so thoroughly by belly dance that my music career sort of ceased to exist. I made a 360-degree turn in what seemed like an instant, with Om Kalthoum replacing Elvis and   Hakim taking the place of The Cramps. Once in a while, I even felt guilty for my new allegiance- it felt like I was “cheating” on rock ‘n’ roll because  nothing I listened to had lyrics in English!

 I had long since become fully reconciled to my new lifestyle, but then an odd coincidence occurred.  In 2006, I was asked to headline at the Majma Festival in England, where I’ll actually be returning next month.  It was my first major belly dance gig in a foreign country, and I was super- excited!    Just after   accepting that gig, my music publisher contacted me and said that the well-known   UK dirty house deejays   Peace Division wanted to sample   some of my spoken word vocals for a new track they were working on. I said yes, and we signed the papers. Shortly after, I was contacted again and told that my samples had now turned into the lead vocal and the track would be released the week I was heading to Majma.  The song came out as “ “Blacklite Sleaze” by Peace Division, Featuring Pleasant Gehman…and the moment I touched down   at Heathrow Airport, it entered the British Pop Charts.  You can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goZ41xzs3_o

 Ironically, the moment I’d switched my focus from music to dance, I suddenly had a legion of new fans who wanted to hear my audio recordings, but my dance career kept growing, and I didn’t find the time to do any more recording.  After a while, I began to miss being in the recording studio, as opposed to the dance studio.  I wanted to make a track or track   the melded my   two favorite things- writing and belly dance, but it didn’t seem possible.  

Enter Karim Nagi.

If you are a belly dancer or a fan of cool rhythmic mixes, undoubtedly you already know Karim’s work, released under his own name as well as his moniker Turbo Tabla. But on the off chance that you don’t, Karim   is a multi-faceted artist: musician, deejay, dancer, instructor and orator, who is extremely knowledgeable about the traditions of Arabic music and dance… but he’s also a forward-thinking risk-taker artistically, and ridiculously talented and funny to boot!    In addition to his own  compositions, he’s made “Arabized” cover  versions of everything from Vivaldi to  the 1970’s hit “Low Rider”! In fact, he’s probably the only person on earth who can sing a tongue-in-cheek acoustic version of   the Queen hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” (in Arabic, no less!) accompanying himself on the tabla!  Though this epic bit of clashing cultures will probably never be documented for posterity ( ok, it was an impromptu  dressing room performance after a belly dance show)  I realized at that very moment that I  had finally found my dream collaborator!

  

 Though Karim and I are each infused with the culture of our native countries, we love, admire and are immersed in the culture of our adopted countries as well. Together we created   “Heart Full Of Cairo” a crazy ethno-soundscape that we conceptualized together.

 I wrote the words and did the vocals; Karim did the music and produced it, putting it all together.  The project came about organically, and of course the idea was spawned at belly dance festivals where we were both working.  We started discussing it at Cairo Caravan in June 2012, and by the time the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive rolled around in September 2012, we were onto something. We decided that whatever we did had to be Oriental, but not traditional.  I have done many vocal and spoken word recordings in the past, but I never combined my recorded work with belly dancing- I kind of inadvertently kept those two areas of my life compartmentalized.

Many of you readers may remember my posts about Egypt during the revolution as well as my reports from the Ahlan Wa Sahlan festival in 2011, post-revolution Cairo.  I was nervous about my Egyptian and ex-pat friends during the protests, concerned for their safety. I was also a little apprehensive about the future of a country I loved so much; afraid I might not ever get to return. Cairo is definitely my favorite place on the globe.  The moment I stepped off the plane on my first trip to Egypt, I started to weep, I was so happy to be there, and my feelings for it never change. I get giddy every time I go there; it’s a sensory overload of the very best kind. Karim is from Cairo, so   undoubtedly he has a different “relationship” to the city than I do, and understands it in a way I never will.

 But we both have a profound love for the city often known as Masr, or Al-Qahirah … so,  just in time for Valentine's Day, here’s the audio love letter  to Cairo from Karim and me… Enjoy!

 TURBO TABLA (KARIM NAGI) FEATURING PLEASANT GEHMAN (AKA PRINCESS FARHANA)   “HEART FULL OF CAIRO”

https://soundcloud.com/karimnagi/heartfullofcairo

   Karim and me  backstage at Cairo Caravan 2012,  posing as Egyptian Golden Age movie stars

 Photo of Princess Farhana on  "Heart Full Of Cairo" cover by Andre Elbing