All the single ladies | An Evening with the Best Songs of Ahmed Adaweya (1975)
"This is history. I am a whole history. I am king of saltana" In 1975, the last year Ahmed remains a bachelor, he releases three albums: An Evening with the Best Songs of Ahmed Adaweya (LP) and But Check Out What Adaweya Is Doing (cassette) on Sout El Hob and An Evening with Ahmed Adaweya (LP) on Moriphon. I don't have a copy of the Moriphon. On its Ahmed Adaweya page , belly dance website Gilded Serpent spends some time unpacking the term "saltana." It's a word Ahmed uses to describe himself and his facility with the mawwal. "What exactly is Saltana?" Gilded Serpent contributor Amina Goodyear queries. "Nothing is exact in Egypt. The word evokes derogatory connotations of a drugged state. This is how people perceived Adaweya, whether he was awake or asleep. To get Saltana takes time—in performance, sometimes hours. If Tarab is ecstatic joy, then Saltana is the ecstasy of creation. Time passes, and you don’t feel it." Goodyear note...