For most Americans any post-war knowledge of Middle Eastern music was gleaned from images and sounds associated with belly dancing and the exotic implications of the harem. Record labels pandered to these fantasies, producing some pretty good, inauthentic music and to a record collector, hilariously desirable cover art. So be warned, some of the images are erotic and reinforce sereotypes. Here is a sampling of the best/worst of the more than 200 belly dance recordings at the ARC.
