When I lived in Maadi, Cairo very long ago, I treated the Maadi Club as a second home. There was always something to do there; if nothing else, just walk around absorbing the surroundings and what people were doing. It was in Maadi Club that I met Omar Sharif – for real!

But one afternoon, as I was aimlessly walking around the quieter parts of the club, I saw in the distance, (no no, not a shimmering light) a little stone hut. From inside of this small hut, came the deepest, most sinister sound I had ever heard. A profound and foreboding drum sounded a regular, sepulchral doom-da-doom-da-doom doom-doom-tekk! I froze. What mysterious march was this and who was about to be devoured by what creature? I didn’t really want to wait to find out. I fled.

I never did get to know who was playing that drum, but I do know now that close encounter was my first with the beautiful, sensual chiftetelli rhythm. The basic rhythm doesn’t have quite as many dooms as I heard then. Dum te-tek te-tek dum dum tek is thought to be a Turkish and Greek rhythm and it’s used for slow belly dance and floor work.

I wouldn’t have known back then that I’d love dancing to Chiftetelli and the soulful music that is often set to it. The basic beats are often filled in and improvised with and sound passionate and emotional. In my iTunes, I’ve playlisted every chiftetelli I can find. To my amazement there are now 90 of them. What a choice of rich, beautiful music!

A few days ago, thanks to a friend, I discovered a beautiful Chifti piece called Desert Rain. It’s by Desert Wind and I got it from a 2CD set called World Dance. Not to be confused with a zillion other songs and groups called Desert Rain. You can hear a sample and buy it from PayPlay.

Chiftetelli can also be a fast rhythm and it’s also lovely in that form. I like it best when it’s slow and very filled and decorated with improvised beats that leave the dancer with lots to accent and play with.

This picture if of Sarah Skinner doing a lyrical chiftetelli performance on her I Love Turkish bellydance DVD.