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Asmahan
was living in London and had been dancing professionally in the
United States, Europe and the Middle East for 12 years. This
usually meant dancing six nights a week with a few weeks off
between contracts. Something else besides continual performances
caught her imagination. In the mid eighties London was
producing the best rock-videos for the pop stars. The most talented
and ingenious artists were creating magical fantasy effects using
visuals and dancing to embelish songs and music. Oriental Dance
would be a marvelous medium to combine with the pop video techniques.
This was something original that had not been done, and seemed
like a wonderful idea.
The
best videos were being produced at MGMM and Asmahan had
a friend who was a production assistant there. This company had
just produced Tina Turner- Private Dancer and Duran
Duran-Wild Boys, and had literally made almost every great
video that had come out. She organized a meeting with one of
the small companies who worked within the group, and pitched
the idea of producing an Egyptian Dance Fantasy with visuals
and special effects. The producer and director loved the idea
and wanted to go to Cairo for a location shoot. She became executive
producer in charge of finding the capital, developing the concept,
designing and making costumes, scouting locations, recording
the music, doing the deals with the Egyptian government, and
co-ordinating the various aspects of the production.
The
Egyptian Ministry of Tourism supported the project providing the
contacts and connections to Abbassia, the center of the government
administration. Permits for every aspect of film production had
to be obtained from government officials. Locations for filming
were secured, facilities for bringing in equipment from London
and hiring local production were arranged. Asmahan conducted
all these meetings and successfully provided the framework on
which the production of the film could take place.
Asmahan
set up a recording session with Mustafa Hamido to arrange
and record the music written by Mohammad Salem. The film
was going to be a twenty minute rock video format with a twelve
minute magency and eight minute saidi number. Hamido would compose
an original saidi song for the sword dance with a chourus. This
soundtrack would provide the foundation for the film.
The
only Egyptian producer Asmahan knew was Sallah Abou Saif,
who had won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. He agreed
to provide technicians, equipment and an on-line producer. The
producer turned out to be Hussein el Iman the son of Hassan
el Iman who had made many of the great black and white 40's
films of Tahia Carioaca, Naima Akef and Samia Gamal.
The film was to be shot in 65mm and transfered to video for
the edit, to give a good quality.
Adel
Tahir the
Minister of Tourism was intrumental in arranging introductions
and was very interested in the idea that Asmahan wanted to recreate
scenes of ancient Egypt. He came up with the brilliant idea of
using Dr. Rageb's Pharonic Village to film the scenes.
The
London crew arrived in Cairo for a one week shoot with most of
the equipment. The Ismail Pasha Palace, which is part
of the Marriot Hotel, was the location for the dance sequence.
The ancient Egytpian queens were filmed in the temple at Dr.
Rageb's Pharonic Village, and the sword dance was shot on
the desert in front of the Pyramids at Giza.
Back
in London the interior scenes were shot at Omar Khayyam which
had beautiful arabic decor. The scenes for the introduction and
all the cut-away shots were filmed. The final edit was done by
Ralph Zieman and the post production was done at Visions using
the latest state of art visual affects. The result is an avante-guarde
rock video Egyptian Dance Fantasy. |
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Now available
on DVD!
An
Egyptian Dance Fantasy, set to a superb
sound track of original music and filmed on location in Egypt.
Asmahan's captivating dance takes you on an enchanting visual
journey through ancient Egypt temples, harems and deserts to
meet her goddesses, odalisques and bedouins |
An MGMM
production
Music: Mustafa Hamido
Running time: 20 minutes
£20 (including postage & handling)
Please send cheque or money order to:
SM Jonsin
PO BOX 18887
London, SW7 5FE
United Kingdom |
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