{"id":3435,"date":"2011-11-02T18:56:28","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T01:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=3435"},"modified":"2011-11-03T14:27:53","modified_gmt":"2011-11-03T21:27:53","slug":"stasha-radio-bastet-marisa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2011\/11\/02\/stasha-radio-bastet-marisa\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Bastet: Where the Hafla Never Stops!"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Interview with Its Creator, Marisa Young <\/h2>\n

\"Marisa<\/p>\n

by Stasha Vlasuk<\/a>
\nposted November 2, 2011<\/span><\/h3>\n

Almost everybody likes music.\u00a0 Almost all the time!\u00a0 In addition to performing, I particularly enjoy listening to Middle Eastern music as I\u2019m sewing costumes or writing articles.\u00a0 As a vintage dancer, I\u2019ve grown up with a vast selection of classic music from the Arabic East – some of it very squeaky!\u00a0 I was thrilled to discover an incredible amount of vintage Middle Eastern music has been fashioned into pod-cast format by a huge fan of this music, Marisa Young<\/span>. (A podcast is a previously-recorded audio program that’s posted to a website and is made available for download so people can listen to them on a personal portable media player or computer.) Marisa calls her programs \u201cRadio Bastet<\/span>\u201d.\u00a0 This music is fun, funny, and some of it is really silly. Some of the album covers are hilarious!\u00a0 Listen for yourself, and fall in love with vintage Belly dance music–for the first time, or all over again.<\/em> Meet Marisa Young and Radio Bastet, where the hafla never stops:<\/em><\/p>\n

(Stasha) What\u2019s your dance background? <\/h4>\n

( Marissa) I never took any kind of dance lesson in my life until I signed up for Belly dance lessons in 2001 up in Mt. Vernon, Washington, where I was living at the time.\u00a0 I had recently turned 40 and decided it was time to get caught up on my young adulthood, since it was fading fast, and I\u2019d never really had one!\u00a0 I was in love with Belly dance and was surprised to discover that learning it was not out of my reach.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been taking lessons in different styles on and off since then.\u00a0 I\u2019m still not a very good dancer, but it doesn\u2019t matter!\u00a0 I love the dance, and it loves me.<\/p>\n

When did you get started with your podcasts?<\/h4>\n

\u201cRadio Bastet\u201d was born in the spring of 2002, shortly after I moved to Portland, Oregon, when I started a station at Live365.com<\/span>.\u00a0 My then-future husband, Byron<\/span>, showed me how to make digital recordings of my vinyl record albums.\u00a0 It was so much fun I decided to create hour-long shows featuring the tracks from my collection, with voice tracks sprinkled in to make it sound as if I were doing a radio program.\u00a0 I was definitely inspired by Byron\u2019s radio show persona, \u201cMr. Smooth\u201d!\u00a0 I started a little website at Suite101.com<\/span> and began posting the programs in streaming audio format.\u00a0 I received some enthusiastic feedback, especially from musicians and dancers of the era.\u00a0 I knew I was on to something!\u00a0 Radio Bastet got its own domain name in 2003.\u00a0 When podcasting became popular a few years ago, I made the decision to switch from streaming audio to podcasting format, and it\u2019s been successful beyond all my wildest imaginings!<\/p>\n

What prompted you to focus on this era?<\/h4>\n

\"AllI\u2019ve always been a fan of retro-culture, even when it wasn\u2019t yet retro at the time. (I am old enough now to say so!)\u00a0 I have enjoyed contemporary Belly dance music, but I felt that the \u201cold school\u201d artists and musicians weren\u2019t getting the widespread recognition they deserved.\u00a0 \u201cWe stand on the shoulders of our ancestors,\u201d as they say, and I didn\u2019t want them to be forgotten. Also, I felt it was important for folks to realize that there is some mighty good music hidden behind those often cheesy album covers populated with harem girls in skimpy costumes!<\/p>\n

Where do you get this music?<\/h4>\n

My LP vinyl collection started when I attended a garage sale thrown by a retired Belly dancer.\u00a0 I got 21 albums for $20!\u00a0 Nowadays, I haunt eBay, record shops and sales, and sites like gemm.com<\/span> and hipwax.com<\/span>.\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid the days of finding good Belly dance records for $1.00 are gone, though\u2026<\/p>\n

How do you create the podcast?<\/h4>\n

First, the albums must be digitized, which I do with a turntable and mixing board, hooked up to the computer and using GoldWave<\/span> recording software. Then the resulting raw .wav tracks I split with the CDWav<\/span> program, and next, I create .mp3 files with the Switch Sound File Converter<\/span>.\u00a0 The tracks are then filed onto the official Radio Bastet portable hard drive!<\/p>\n

When the time comes to create a podcast, I figure out what tracks to use, write it all down, and organize the tracks into a folder for the program.\u00a0 Then, I record my voice drop-ins for the show with a microphone and GoldWave.\u00a0 By the way, the song used in the opening and closing is \u201cAh Ya Zein\u201d by Omar Khorshid<\/span> from the \u201cRhythms of the Orient\u201d album!\u00a0 (A lot of people ask about that.)\u00a0 When everything is completed, I use the Propaganda Podcast Software <\/span>to create the podcast.\u00a0 It takes all the tracks and strings them together into one huge .mp3 file.<\/p>\n

My podcasts are hosted by libsyn.com<\/span>, so my final step is uploading them to their site, creating the play-list, providing an album cover image for the blog page, and then letting everyone know about it!<\/p>\n

Are there any difficulties with presenting this music (physical–in terms of vinyl issues, legal–in terms of copyright issues, etc.)?<\/h4>\n

\"OmarVinyl-wise there\u2019s not too much of a problem.\u00a0 Occasionally, I\u2019ll run across an album that\u2019s too scratchy or warped to play, or just sounds weird after I\u2019ve recorded it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one thing that is very frustrating:\u00a0 finding out that you have two or three copies of the exact same record, released on different labels, with different artists names, different track names and arrangements, and different covers!\u00a0 <\/p>\n

A lot of these albums were released as budget titles, and not a lot of care was taken in the accuracy department. (Let\u2019s put it that way.)\u00a0 Of course, there is the always-maddening dilemma of getting a record with nothing but Arabic or Greek writing on it, and not reading either one myself, not having a clue as to what anything says.\u00a0 Yikes!<\/p>\n

\nLegal-wise, I will admit that I\u2019m wandering around in a gray area.\u00a0 A lot of the older, more low-budget records, and many of the older foreign releases, have drifted into the public domain, so there are no worries there.\u00a0 However, many of the albums by more established artists such as Eddie \u201cThe Sheik\u201d Kochak<\/a><\/span>, George Abdo<\/span>, and others, on major record labels like Monitor<\/span>, are being re-issued on CD and places like iTunes.\u00a0 I am wary of stepping on any toes in that department.\u00a0 I try to avoid any major complications by presenting only one track per artist per program.\u00a0 I may yet be flirting with disaster, but the RIAA hasn\u2019t come pounding on my door–at least, not as of this writing!<\/p>\n

You are like a Belly dance album historian!\u00a0 What\u2019s the cheesiest, silliest music you\u2019ve come across?\u00a0 What\u2019s the most accessible?<\/h4>\n

I giggle uncontrollably at the Belly dance\/disco hybrids that came along in the late \u201870s through the early \u201880s.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking in particular of \u201cDiskomatik Katibim\u201d by Osman Ismen<\/span> (which I haven\u2019t actually played on the show yet, but it\u2019s coming!) and \u201cArabian Affair\u201d by Abdul Hassan<\/span>.\u00a0 Syrupy synthesized strings and doumbeks make strange bedfellows!\u00a0 This music is so cheesy it will harden your arteries and raise your cholesterol, but I love it!<\/p>\n

\nI was really surprised when I finally heard Mohammed El-Bakkar<\/span>\u2019s albums!\u00a0 This is wonderful stuff!\u00a0 It\u2019s good, solid dance music, so thick you could cut it with a knife.\u00a0 What I love about his records is that you can hear what a ripping-good time he\u2019s having.\u00a0 (He\u2019s always laughing and shouting.)\u00a0 Far too soon, in 1959 (the year I was born) he passed away.\u00a0 We need more musicians like him around!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the cheesiest, silliest album cover you\u2019ve come across?\u00a0 What\u2019s the most accessible (in terms of costumes you\u2019d actually wear)? \u00a0<\/h4>\n

I once received an email from Margrecia<\/span>, the cover model of "Belly Dance A-Go-Go".\u00a0 She still teaches Belly dance and makes all her own costumes!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"HiI will list the covers as I think of them:<\/p>\n