Recently (2006) someone posted a critique of Sahar Hamdi on the Bhuz discussion board. Having known her, I felt it was my place to defend her, since no one else has. She was extremely good to the people she cared about. In a tough business she had a heart of gold. She taught me a great deal, and not just about dancing. She had her faults, but don't we all? I loved her dearly and I hope that she has now found happiness.
What follows is the original conversation and some of the comments that led to mine:
OK, I just got a whole video with Sahar Hamdi after having seen one of her comedy performances on a DVD I got hold of a while back. For some reason I am having severe problems with getting what she got famous for (except being raunchy!). If anyone is more enlightened on Sahar Hamdi than I, PLEASE help me understand. I want to understand, but I just dont get it. This is the first time I've actually experienced to get stuck like this and not get a dancer at all - Im so frusterated. So any help and / explanation would be highly appreciated. YIKES!
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![Sahar Hamdi]()
I don't think there is anything you're not "getting". I have only seen her on that video with Aida Nour and Lucy where got up from the audience and did an impromptu lip sych wearing tight vinyl pants tucked into cowboy boots. From what I have heard, she was essentially paid to go into retirement because she was so bad. You have my endorsement to not watch the video again
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Ok, I'm assuming you have the video where Sahar is wearing black and white with silver fringing and she is charging around the stage like a mad woman. Is that the one? Sahar was not the world's greatest dancer though I do have a bootleg of her which has lost all it's colour where she does do a good drum solo without going too mental. She also comes out in a sheer black dress with bunches of grapes strategically placed (though the area around the bum and front has another layer underneath for those of you who were having images of grapes hanging off her bum!). I much prefer it when she dances and lips sync along to the songs. Her facial expressions are great and some of her gestures seem a bit dodgy but it's definitely taught me how to be a bit naughtier.
![Sahar Hamdi]()
Generally, her claim to fame was being rude (or what the Egyptian's considered rude, I suspect for us in the West we would have thought her tame) and it seems she was definitely popular at weddings. She also danced in London (ask Vashti for more details)and was equally very popular.
I haven't got anymore information than that and yeah, that bit where she lip syncs on the Lucy video, I think by then she had been "retired" and I think she's a bit past her prime and what she is wearing does not suit her at all. Sorry didn't meant that to be nasty she just looks a bit rubbish that's all, but I like naughty women and Sahar was definitely one of them!
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Ah, thank you so much for the input everyone. I was worried that there was something I wasnt getting because I found her extremely rude and intrusive. It all makes sense now *finally breathes normal again*
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I might be able to shed a bit more light on Sahar Hamdi's fame. I learned that once she realized she'd never be one of the best dancers, she decided to make a name for herself through another strategy--that is, being the worst dancer! I think the show with the tight satin pants and cowboy boots illustrate that.
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![Sahar Hamdi]()
Thank you for the info... you wouldnt happen to know of any videos that show Sahar Hamdi being the best dancers? Seeing how "good" she is at being bad... Im interested in seeing her being "bad" at being good.
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Sounds reasonable to me. When i saw her show in the mid-80s, she did a LOT of TnA (tits and ass in case someone doesn't know that abbreviation) in very brief costume back when very brief costumes were not generally worn in Egypt. According to a source I trust, she was also arrested several times for her dirty talk on the microphone. That same trip (1984) I saw Nagwa Fu'ad. Sahar Hamdi was in the audience and Nagwa invited her up on the stage to dance with her. Sahar really could dance well, which she had not done in her own show just a few days before that. She seems to have chosen to be infamous if she couldn't be famous.
In the early 90s, rumor had it that she'd been paid to retire AND to become devoutly religious and say that she retired because she had seen the error of her ways and quit that nasty profession.
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THIS WAS MY REPLY
![Sahar B&W]()
I met Sahar Hamdi when I worked in London at Mona Said's club, The Omar Khayyam. When I moved to Egypt, she returned home at the same time and was kind enough to take me under her wing, so to speak. For over a year I accompanied her to jobs and parties, occasionally slept in her apartment and was often invited to dinner. I watched her interact with her musicians, her fans, her family, her employees and friends. She was extremely generous with the people she loved. And extremely unpredictable.
Like most of Egypt's famous dancers she came from a poor background and tried to teach herself how to maneuver in upper class society. Her family rejected her because she was a dancer, yet they needed her money. Like Tahia Carioka, Mona Said and many others, her love life was unstable. And she definitely had a problem with alcohol.
Audiences loved Sahar because she was outrageous. Leila Farid explains in her
wonderful article on Gilded Serpent that Egyptian audiences aren't looking for technical perfection from a
raqasa. They go to be entertained by larger than life personalities. And no one was more entertaining than Sahar, particularly when she was under the influence. She could make an entire room erupt in laughter simply by cocking an eyebrow or batting her eyelashes. She was the quintessential awalim walking on the wild side, an irresistible flirt humping the floorboards. Yes, she was crude, especially when drunk. But she did it with a twinkle in her eye.
![Sahar CU]()
When she was drunk she really cut loose, and her Saudi customers, stuffed with cash, loved her best that way. The more outrageous she got, the more they showered her with appreciation. After the weddings, at the late night clubs, they would throw stacks of high denomination bills on the stage or pin them together in $1000 wreaths and hang them around her neck.
And ahe needed the money. She had many mouths to feed. She also loved the attention. But she paid for it, psychologically. She was under a lot of stress and alcohol numbed the pain. The video you all have been criticizing wasn't her normal show. It was taken when she was a guest in the audience and the late Shoukuku got her up to dance to one of her theme songs. She had been drinking.
Believe it or not, Sahar was a wonderful dancer. She had the most beautiful hands I have ever seen, even better than Mona Said's. She never choreographed and always put her audiences first. They expected her to be over the top so she complied. Her baby face was the perfect foil for the raunchy stuff her body did. Her shimmies were magnificent, particularly when she worked with Khamis Henkesh (London and Cairo). And her beladi song interpretations (many by Sami Ali) were authentic and hilarious, but only if you understood the nuances of Egyptian Arabic.
However, Westerners tend to judge Egyptian dancers by Western standards. Her standards were different, though. She learned her craft from the awalim, not Russian ballet instructors or Mahmoud Reda's folklore troupe. Audiences were different back then, too. The 1960 - 70s were quite liberal, before the winds of moral propriety shifted and conservatism prompted the Muslim Brotherhood, Sadat's assassination and a crack-down on belly dancing.
As for Sahar's retirement and wearing a hijab, she explained her reasons on an Egyptian TV show that is now (in Arabic) on YouTube. [There's a link on my YouTube channel - Serpentine Dance Studio - in the "Sahar Hamdi" playlist.]
Her motives for being a dancer were complicated. Her life was complicated. But to me she was one of the greats. She may have been over the top to Westerners, but her Arabic audiences loved her. She made them laugh. She represented a long tradition of street dancers - sacrificed in the name of religious conservatism.
copyright 2006: Yasmin Henkesh
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A Sweet Face, Naughty Moves, and Gulf Money:
A biography of Sahar Hamdi
Mark Balahadia 2/27/07
In an era dominated by the musical gyrations of the very famous ra’asa, Dina, and many lesser known clones, in a now very conservative and Islamic Cairo…many dancers look towards the past for inspiration. However, few dancers understand how history, politics, and social change in the Arab World have shaped el ra’s el shar’i. Dance does not exist in a vacuum but changes with the culture and the people it manifests.
Although she was ridiculously famous at the pinnacle of her career, there is little that can be found about Sahar Hamdi before her career as a ra’asa. And there are but brief mentions of her in print and on the internet. What is widely available is footage of her memorable performances from the 1970s and the 1980s. Fortunately, gaps in Miss Hamdi’s dance career can be filled in by Yasmin, a Washington, DC based dancer who worked with her in London and Egypt during the late 70s and early 80s.
After the start of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, the oil-rich Gulf Arabs needed another place to spend their vacations. As a result of the sectarian and ethnic strife in Lebanon, the Gulf Arabs brought their appetites for entertainment to Cairo, London, and Paris. Belly dance flourished in these places and many dancers became stars, like Miss Hamdi.
According to the Egyptian tabla player, Reda Darwish he started working for Miss Hamdi because, “I wanted to explore, and I also went with whoever was willing to pay the most. I needed to expand at that time.” Darwish knew Miss Hamdi as a customer who would watch Fifi Abdu perform. Miss Hamdi decided to become a dancer and started her own group. Darwish said she was an overnight success and “became a very good dancer”.
It is apparent from video footage that Miss Hamdi was a “riot” to watch. Her rude movements have garnered her many fans as well as opponents. One well-known belly dancer from America (who will not be named) clearly states on her website that she is offended by Miss Hamdi’s dance styling. However, to those who loved her, Miss Hamdi was a good dancer and entertainer. She had wonderful shimmies and the most beautiful oriental hands. She was most known for her tableaux where she lip-synced to perfection. She not only danced but also emoted with the music. Many dancers today have carried on this tradition of lip syncing, particularly Dina.
The year was 1990. A war began in the Gulf and a civil war in Lebanon ended. The Gulf Arabs left Cairo in droves and Egypt slowly plunged into economic oblivion, increased conservatism and general social stagnation. As a result, the dance scene in Cairo suffered. In contrast, Lebanon was rebuilding and slowly attracted the bulk of Gulf Arabs visitors. In turn, the music and dance scene in Beirut flourished once more and the majority of famous singers today are Lebanese.
