Dark Fire
Recorded By Light Rain

Overall Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 5 stars)

For Oriental dance artists who like alternative music rather than authentic Middle Eastern music, the music by Light Rain is worth considering. This band, based in the San Francisco area, plays its own original compositions on violin, flute, guitar, and other instruments accompanied by drumming with a Middle Eastern beat. The band characterizes its style as world beat or New Age.

What I Liked:

• The original music provides a pleasant change of pace from traditional Middle Eastern sounds, especially when used in events such as belly dance festivals or seminar shows that feature performances by a large number of dancers.
• The solid drumming based on Middle Eastern rhythms provides the Middle Eastern flavor to support Oriental dance.
• The melodies and instruments are likely to sound pleasant to Western ears, so this music could be a nice choice for Western audiences at restaurants, parties, and similar events.
• The music was composed explicitly for use with Oriental dance, so even though there's a strong New World influence it still works well with this dance form.

What I Didn't Like:

• Some of the songs are a bit long (over 4 minutes), which limits how they can be used. (Cutting music is always difficult to get right.)

The music of Light Rain has been part of the San Francisco belly dancing culture since the mid-1970's, and today remains very popular with the U.S. dance community. Doug Adams, the lead musician for the band and composer of nearly all their music, met a dancer named DeAnn in 1973 when she was performing as a street entertainer in San Francisco. De Ann's dancing inspired Doug to compose music for her to use in performances, and Light Rain was born. De Ann and Doug co-produced their first album in 1977, Dream Dancer. Some of their music has been used by renowned dance companies, including the Joffrey Ballet. This review focuses on Dark Fire, the last of their four albums and the most popular, which was released in 1993.

The music of Light Rain is often described as New Age or World Beat. Nearly every song is accompanied by drumming and finger cymbals playing Middle Eastern rhythms, but the melodies are purely New World in character. They don't rely on many of the Middle Eastern musical techniques such as maqams, quarter tones, etc., but still the rhythm and spirit remains compatible with the undulations and shimmies of Oriental dance.

The predominant instrument on most of the songs is violin, played by Doug Adams. I usually don't like to use violin music for belly dancing, because the violin is one of those instruments that can be painful to listen to if not played well. But I like Doug's playing very much. He is very skilled, and some of the songs require very intricate technique which he executes very well.

You will probably like this collection if:

• You'd rather dance to alternative music than to traditional Middle Eastern music, particularly if you like music with a strong influence from the U.S. New Age styles of the late 20th century.
• You frequently dance for Western audiences who would respond well to a fusion sound.
• You're tired of your existing music collection and you're looking for a change of pace.
• You frequently dance in situations where several other dancers use classic Middle Eastern influence and you'd prefer to set yourself apart with a unique program.

You probably won't care for this music if:

• You usually dance for ethnic Middle Eastern audiences who expect you to use music that's familiar to them.
• You have a passion for Egyptian style and like to focus on using Egyptian music, props, costumes, and moves in your dancing.
• You like to use music with a heavily historic sound played on very ethnic instruments such as rebaba, mizmar, oud, and kanoun.

Most of the songs on this collection could be good for beginners to use in practicing at home. The drumming and finger cymbal rhythm tends to be crisp and easy to hear, and on most songs there is a single prevailing rhythm from beginning to end that would be easy for a beginner to follow. However, I would advise against beginners using the ones longer than 3 1/2 minutes to perform, because it's hard for someone just starting out to maintain an interesting performance for a song much longer than that.

The length of some of the songs limit how they can be used unless you have the equipment and skill to cut music. For example, I'd hesitate to use any song longer than 4 minutes for choreography unless I cut it first because people have trouble memorizing choreography that long.

Despite the fact that it's beginner-friendly, this music is also certainly good for experienced dancers, expecially in situations like haflas and large festivals that feature an endless parade of many performers. It can provide the kind of change-of-pace sound to make an individual dancer stand out.

Song Title

Length

Nationality

RealAudio Clip?

Translation?

Comments

I have performed once to music played live by Light Rain, and I found Doug Adams and his ensemble to be a wonderfully dancer-friendly band to work with. I truly felt that they were partnering with me to create the best possible performance. I have also attended one workshop taught by Doug's late wife, DeAnn, and found her to be a very effective instructor. I chatted briefly with Doug at his vending table at Rakkasah (a major belly dancing festival in California) in 2002.

Beyond these encounters, I have never had any conversations with Light Rain.

Doug Adams
P.O. Box 356,
Larkspur, CA 94977
U.S.A.

E-Mail: HeyDidl@aol.com

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