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A review by doomkittiekhan
Midnight in Cairo: The Divas of Egypt's Roaring '20s by Raphael Cormack
5.0
This book was a dream and an honor to read. From these pages familiar names, characters, shows, dance styles, all came up on the trilling sound of zills from my memory. Confession - I trained, professionally performed, and taught as a belly dancer from 1999-2011 with some of the best teachers in the region. Let me stop your assumptions immediately - I did not just learn to wear shiny costumes, and paint kohl on my blue-green eyes, only to dance to Shakira. Ok...I DID dance to Shakira for fun, but I also learned the rhythms of the beledi, how to toss my hair in the ghawazi style, to correctly zaghareet, and absorbed the intricate differences between Raqs Sharqi, American Tribal Style, Shaabi, and Rakass. I even co-founded a Middle Eastern Alliance at my high school in the height of post 9/11 Islamophobia. We put on haflas (think potlucks with better food and lots of dancing) and helped bridge knowledge gaps in our conservative and deeply Republican community. I loved my years as a dancer before my knees decided to do me dirty. Reading 'Midnight in Cairo' gave me a hefty dose of the academic study of Eastern dance that I love so much and brought bakc wonderful memeories. Well done, Raphael Cormack. I am eternally grateful.
'Midnight in Cairo' is a thorough study of the rise of Egyptian nationalism through the mediums of dance, theater, and music. It begins with an examination of the beginnings of the pre-WWI cabaret scene in Cairo on the edge of the colonialism of the past and the future of the Near East on the horizon. It follows the lives of famous female performers through the late nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Telling their stories alongside the global movements of women's liberation, the rise of jazz, moving pictures, and recorded sound. It's a sweeping history carefully told.
If you are at all interested in de-centering the western narrative of historical movements, the history of belly dance, reading about badass ladies, or taking a look at the rise of the modern Near East through the lens of the performing arts - I highly recommend you read this book.
Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
'Midnight in Cairo' is a thorough study of the rise of Egyptian nationalism through the mediums of dance, theater, and music. It begins with an examination of the beginnings of the pre-WWI cabaret scene in Cairo on the edge of the colonialism of the past and the future of the Near East on the horizon. It follows the lives of famous female performers through the late nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Telling their stories alongside the global movements of women's liberation, the rise of jazz, moving pictures, and recorded sound. It's a sweeping history carefully told.
If you are at all interested in de-centering the western narrative of historical movements, the history of belly dance, reading about badass ladies, or taking a look at the rise of the modern Near East through the lens of the performing arts - I highly recommend you read this book.
Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.