How To Make Your Husband A Sultan

This, no kidding, is the title of a bellydance record released in the US in the '60s. It has been recently reissued by Traditional Crossroads, whose catalogue is quite good, especially when it comes to Turkish music. Here's the company's publicity:

How To Make Your Husband A Sultan

With Özel Türkbas


The 1960s classic that first introduced Americans to authentic Turkish bellydance, and to some of the great Turkish nightclub musicians of the 20th century, including the legendary Turkish-Gypsy clarinet player Mustafa Kandirali--all under the guise of that swing-era staple, the art of domestic seduction. Produced by and featuring the famous Turkish dancer Özel Türkbas, first brought to America to dance by Italian movie director Franco Zeferelli, the album sold 150,000 copies in the US (and a million in Turkey), spawning the craze for bellydance and Turkish music that continues today.

Notes include Özel’s original bellydance instructions with pictures. “A practice run through with the record,” she promised, “and tonight you can be bellydancing for that luckiest of men--your sultan!”

I listened to a bit of the music on the website, and it sounds good. Cdroots.com, which is a reliable source of world music, gives it a good review too.

Özel Türkbas put out another record called "Dance into Your Sultan's Heart." She moved to the US in the '60s, and apparently retired in Lido Beach, Florida.