Sa'ada

Is there a difference in the meaning of the terms Shaabi and Baladi/Beledi? what's the distinction? or are they synonymous?

Thanks!

teela

thank you for asking this question. I"ve been wondering about it myself.

Caroline_afifi

Do you mean dance styles or the meaning of the words?

karena

Baladi, of my country. Comes from the country people who came to the cities and brought their dance with them. Low earthy movements, simpler and less staged than oriental.
YouTube - Yasmina of Cairo

Shaabi, of my people. Like pop, much more upbeat, cheeky lyrics, gritty and a bit 'street'. Hakim and Saad are shaabi.
YouTube - Saad el Soghair - hatgawez

At the extremes, the difference is easy to spot. In between, a huge grey area. Some will say things are one, some say they are the other.

The links are in relation to the music rather than the dance.

And there's so much more that could be said, but that's just a quick answer.

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karena

or the music

If I'm wrong Caroline, please correct me. You know sooo much more that me.

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"Nothing is black and white, it's all shades of grey" Me

Aisha Azar

Dear Sa'ada, It depends on who you talk to, I think. I have heard Shaabi, Beledi and Saidi all used to mean the same thing, but usually it is more like this.

Shaabi means "people", but it sort of means more like something that comes from the general population, and in these days it means more like younger people. It can also have a political or social meaning beyond that. If we think "Raqs Shaabi", it basically means what we in the states would think of as club or street dancing, done by the average person. Lately you can see versions of it on what would pass for Arabian MTV as well.

Beledi means "from the country". It is kind of an adjective, just like shaabi, in that it is descriptively used. Beledi denotes that something is either from the actual country, as in out in the stix, or it can just mean the whole country. In dance, it denotes a style of dance that takes its roots from the countryside, but in reality is actually more uptown than that usually. Many styes of "beledi" were developed for the stage and do not much resemble what you find in the country, being much more sophistocated. If you are still living in the Seattle area, you might be interested to know that I may be sponsoring a guy from Alexandria, Egypt to teach Shaabi in the near future.
Regards,
A'isha

Caroline_afifi

I think between you all you summed it up.

baladi can also mean 'local' and so can shaabi (public).

Both can have low class (I prefer to say working class) implications.
Middle classes would find it an insult to be called Beledi or live in a 'Shaabi' area.
Cheb means young man, cheba is young woman and is different from Shaabi.

Kashmir

All shaabi is beledi but only some beledi is shaabi.

"beledi" is the broad term for things/people/food/dance etc belonging to a community (or country). A warm positive term for those 98% of Egyptians at the bottom of the heap. A perjorative term for the upper classes.

"shaabi" is a more urban term "belonging to the people". Often used for edgy political music etc.

Aisha Azar

Dear Sa'ada,
It should also be stated that at least Shaabi, and perhaps the other terms are related to more countries than just Egypt, though "Beledi" seems to mean Egypt in terms of dance. Shaabi, for example, is also what the folk versions of Tunisian dance are called, according to info of Aisha Ali. Also, Ghawazi is called Shaabi by Khyriyeh Mazin, according to Edwina Nearing if I remember correctly.
The word Cheb, means sort of like "Kid", but in the tough teen age sense of the James Dean era and not the goat or small young person sense, nearly as I have been able to tell. It is a title that some shaabi, rai and jeel singers have.
Regards,
A'isha

adiemus

Thank you so much for this question - and all the answers! I've been wondering about the Shaabi and especially the Raqs Shaabi vs beledi too.

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