Jalilah's Raks Sharki: Stage Cuts

Raqs sharki - literally ‘Eastern dance’ but more commonly known as bellydance - is a thriving international scene. There's probably a group meeting in a church hall near you right now. Supporting this enthusiasm is a bustling industry of online souks selling fringes and finger- cymbals and lines of dance music CDs stretching to the desert horizon. Jalilah (Lorraine Chamas) has been a prime mover and shaker in raqs sharki circles since the 80s and for this, her seventh compilation, she has edited down longer tracks to fit the five-minute format that many dance festivals now require. This certainly makes the pieces snappier, allowing the listener or dancer to focus more closely on the orchestrations. However, where this CD falls down is in the very unbalanced quality of the extracts. The first seven, by the percussionist Mokhtar Al-Said, are breathtaking - crackling with a vibrant energy that you would expect from a musician who worked with legends. The remainder fail to match this same high standard and suffer by comparison: they're not bad as such, just so overshadowed that they lack much lustre.