Every year, during the last week of August, the Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp is held in the beautiful Mendocino Woodlands.The camp provides an incredible opportunity to study and enjoy rare live Middle Eastern music and dance. Every aspiring bellydancer should attend it sometime. The cultural experience is rich with folk dance, bellydance, singing, drumming and music lessons. Every night there is a concert and a live cabaret until dawn!
The camp has a rustic, natural feel. Everyone stays in little cabins or tents. Classes are held in the big lodges and around fire circles. Participants may happen across a pod of oud players in the woods, hear the squawking of zurnas down by the stream, or stumble across a solo violinist or kanoun-player practicing in the great outdoors. It is unbelievable to find so much great Middle East music in one place in America -- not to mention in a redwood forest. A treat to be sure!
Photos: Top Delilah, Bottom Laura Legere, Delilah, & Dalia Carella with Tamborine!
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