As an American dancer doing an ethnic dance, you have to learn to appreciate a lot of music that our ears are not trained to appreciate. Listening intelligently to new music is a learned skill.
As someone whose spent more money than I care to contemplate buying obscure music, sounds unheard, I've found how hard it is to track down good music. Typically, you get a new piece of music, rip it out of the plastic inserts, throw it on your stereo and then are disappointed to find yet another piece of obscure music you can't stand to listen to....or you think the music is allright, but you haven't a clue how to dance to it. Before you give up, here are some things you can try:.
Determine the rhythm of the piece. Even if you don't know the name of a particular rhythmn, try to feel it with your body. Tap the palm of one hand with the fingers of the other or get a simple rhythm stick; often when your brain can't find the rhythm, your body knows instinctively what it is. Perhaps 90 percent of the music you find will be a balady, however embellished, so check firstto see if it's balady or some variation thereof (Dum Dum Tek-Dum Tek).. Get a chart of the most common rhythms and keep it handy for reference.
Make an effort to learn new and different rhythmns. Seek out some pieces with more unusual rhythms. Of course, each different country has its particular rhythms ---Egyptian music will be different from North African, Persian, Turkish, Greek, or Arabic.
I have a particular fondness for the Kashlima (9/8) and the 7/8's because they have a "kicker" on the end that's fun to play with. One of the most common 9/8's which is a lot of fun is "Rompe, Rompe" Be aware that some music will be ahrhythmic, that is, it will have to definite rhythm and you have to work to the phrase and not the rhythm. You should also be warned that many pieces will changerhythm patterns within the song, especially if it's a dance set. One criticism that's been voiced about American dancers is that they tend to work to the melody and not the rhythm. Force yourself to be aware of the rhythm, and consciously work to it at least part of the time.
Never let your music make you feel rushed. You should feel in ommand" of your music. If the tempo is really fast you can try working it at half-tempo, or keep listening to it until it feel s more comfortable to you. I've seen some pretty good dancers who look that they could be really good if they'd just figure this out. Tempo is relevant but this problem occurs with music at any tempo if the dancer's not ready for it. This goes along with my philosophy that beginners shouldn't wear $600 beaded costumes if they don't feel comfortable "living up" to them. If your music or costume intimidate you, then you should change them. The very essence of oriental dance is that serene feminity that lets nothing make one frantic, or feeling out of control.
Do a learning tape. Make up a tape of pieces that you'd like to "grow into". Pick pieces that are somewhat challenging due to rhythm or tempo, or just very different from what you usually work to. You may never learn to love them, but increased familiarity with the pieces will make a big difference. Play it in your car stereo and listen to it while you're driving. If you find that you're tired and everything sounds irritating, put it aside and try it again later. Be sure and note where you found each piece and its title, in case you actually want to locate the source recording later.
Determine appropriateness of the music theme. It's not possible to get translations for everything, but you can try to determine if what you have is religious music or party music. An acquaintance of mine who was interested in Central Asian music found a really great song called "Hail to the Party". Unfortunately, they were referring to the communist party and not the kind of party he had in mind! Another dancer was deliberately sabotaged by a jealous native dancer. She couldn't figure out why her audience looked so depressed when she was dancing to this nice sounding song she was recommended. Later she found out the song was about dead children and other cheerful subjects. For myself, there's a song on the FIREDANCE cd which I really love for swordwork; unfortunately, this long wonderful chant is the muslim "There is no God but God..." expression and I'm afraid to use it where there might be anything but Americans in my audience. Another song I've always had mixed emotions about is "Chirribim" from the Feenjon collection. The words strictly speaking are a fun parody of a very serious song about the sabbath; the "bride" in question is actually the sabbath. It's not even Hebrew; it's hassidic. I always have a hard time imagining the thoughts of a Hassidic man or woman if they ever saw "belly dancing" to their music ! But since humor is itself part of Jewish culture, I'm still collecting opinions on this one.
Listen to the music in layers. Learn to hear the music in layers, rom the bottom up. First the underlying rhythm, then the embellishments, then the melody. Feel the difference it makes working to each layer separately, one at a time. This is helpful if a piece has vocals that you find extremely annoying; ignore the voice and develop an appreciation of the complexity of the music. Some of the early RAJA recordings are wonderful for beginners, but I knew that my appreciation of musical complexity was developing when I fell in love with Jalaleddin, who performs a variety of musical flavors: Spanish, Persian, Turkish, etc.
Learn a few words in the languages you're most likely to hear. It's unlikely you'll develop real language proficiency unless you study intensively, but any middle eastern dancer worth his/her coins knows that "habibi" means sweetheart in Arabic. Likewise, the words for things like "sugar" and "rose" are good ones to know. If you ever do get to dance for a foreign audience that understands the words, it'll do wonders for your dance interpretation. If the singer is singing about "eyes" then draw their attention to your eyes. Siovanna, who dances at clubs in Denver, says even if she has to grab someone in the parking lot and get them to listen to a song, she tries to get a loose translation. A popular Afghani/Persian song concerns "Pomegrantes", and yes, they are metaphor for womanly endowments!
If none of this works and you still hate whatever piece of music it is, then just put it away for a year or so and then dig it out again. If you've been doing your homework and growing as a dancer you may find that music which was beyond you earlier is now usable, and that music you formerly loved now seems somewhat simplistic. At the very least, it keep you from being bored with your dancing!