Tribal Fest 2007 had an awesome group playing for the open floor Saturday and Sunday. A very unique sound filled with ancient notes and new sounds made the perfect music for all the bellydancers that weekend and many new fans were born, me included. Raquy Danziger talked to us about Naked, her trips to Egypt and her voyage through Middle Eastern music.

Navel: You are a well rounded musician. How did you decided to pursue a musical career and how you discovered the “Tabla”?

Raquy: My parents are both classical musicians and I grew up playing classical piano. I always loved performing and my rhythm was always my strong point. Traveling in India I took some lesson in hand drumming and when I got back to Israel I discovered the tabla and Middle Eastern music and I fell in love.

Navel: For those who are not familiar with Middle Eastern percussion instruments, what's a tabla or dumbek?

Raquy: The tabla is the goblet drum played all over Middle East. Originally they were made out of clay and animal skin but these days most of them are made out of metal with a plastic head.

Raquy: Currently there are two cavemen: Liron Peled and David Kuchherman. Liron and I were married for 7 years and David, a fantastic percussionist from Germany just moved to New York, but we knew of each other before through the internet.

Navel: You are constantly traveling to placecountry-regionEgypt to study and even teach. Can you tell us about your trips? How this experience works in a country that is so protective of their native music and belly dancing?

Raquy: This year will be my 5th winter in a row in Cairo. The most exciting thing I get to do over there is to perform as a soloist with the Egyptian King of Tabla Said El Artist and his 30 piece drumming orchestra. You can see videos of these concerts through my website, www.raquy.com.

I also get to teach a semester course called Introduction to Arabic Drumming at the AUC, the American University in Cairo.

Every year I bring a group of my students from the States with me to Egypt and they get to perform with me in concerts all around Egypt. I do fun things with my students. For example I take them out on a falooka on the Nile for rehearsals! I also bring them to the Sinai Desert for intense practicing. I'm learning to speak Arabic, so last year I got to play and be interviewed on television several times.

Navel: Even your music is mostly directed to belly dancers, do you guys get involved in musical projects outside the belly dancing world?

Raquy: Although many of our fans are belly dancers and our music works well for belly dancing, there are many non - belly dance folks who dig our music. For example we have many fans in the pagan community, and we also perform in percussion festivals. We've also had experiences performing for audiences full of hippies in Middle America who dance their asses off to our music, not knowing anything about belly dance.

Navel: Raquy and The Cavemen have what I would describe as a traditional sound with a twist. What are you looking for with your sound?

Raquy: Our music is based on the Middle Eastern Scales and Rhythms, but with Western style arrangements so that it is accessible to people in this country. We also add a dark, heavy hard rock- style twist.

Navel: This is kind of a silly question but, from all your4 CD's some give the illusion you are naked (or almost naked) while in “Naked”, your most recent CD you are fully dressed. Irony? Paradox? Coincidence?

Raquy: Our third album, “Naked” is named after the cover tune, “Naked”. The reason that tune is called Naked is that it is only one dumbek with no accompaniment so it feels naked. By the way, it's no illusion; I am totally naked on the album covers.

Navel: On a serious note now, talk about “Naked” and how it differs from your previous works.

Raquy: “Naked” is our only album that is only drumming with no other instruments. It's also all original compositions.

Raquy: We will record a new album in December (2007) which will be released, ein sh'alla in the spring.