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Shamstep is a Middle-Eastern genre of electronic dance music that combines the traditional forms of
Shamstep is a Middle-Eastern genre of electronic dance music that combines the traditional forms of Dabke
''Dabke'' ( ar, دبكة also spelled ''dabka'', ''dubki'', ''dabkeh'', plural ''dabkaat'') is a Levantine Arab folk dance. Dabke combines circle dance and line dancing and is widely performed at weddings and other joyous occasions. The line fo ...
music with electronic instruments. 'Sham' is the Arabic name for the region of Greater Syria
Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other s ...
, Syria-Palestine or the Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
. The term 'Shamstep' was coined by the Jordanian-Palestinian band 47Soul to describe their music.
Shamstep has been described as 'more than just a byword for hipsterfied East-West fusion. In 47Soul's home region, it's becoming part of the soundtrack for Arab youth.' The band has stated that it believes the region of Sham is "too divided with borders... In 1947, it was accessible to travel between our little cities... utwe still see he region
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
as a whole." 47 Soul's music is also defined by its fusion with Afro-American styles of music like Hip Hop and Reggae, due to some similarities between Arabic and African music .
Other musicians who play similar forms of Dabke using electronic instruments include Omar Souleyman
Omar Souleyman ( ar, عمر سليمان) is a Syrian Arab
(Timestamp-Minute 1:00) Singer from the village of Ra's al-'Ayn near the Syria–Turkey border but grew up in the city of Tell Tamer. He started his career as a part-time wedding singer i ...
, and Egyptian groups like Islam Chipsy, whose music is seen as part of the Egyptian new wave called Shaabi
Shaabi ( arz, شعبي'' '' ) is an Egyptian musical genre. It is a form of popular working-class music which evolved from Egyptian Baladi in the second half of the 20th century, it's the core of Egyptian people music in streets and weddin ...
or Electro Shaabi. The website Rhythmpassport.com groups all these forms under the heading 'electro Dabke'.
AlAraby has described 47 Soul's music as a "reinterpretation of traditional Arabic instruments, modal scales and rhythms found in ''chobi'' and ''mijwiz'' wedding music - and paralleled in the Egyptian ''electro-shaabi'' scene".
References