Suhaila’s complete Zei El Hawa performance has been added to Suhaila’s Official YouTube Channel; see links for the three parts below. A complete copy of the performance plus Suhaila’s performance to Tamra Henna are available on the 1991 BC DVD at the Online Store.
The performance was filmed at Cabaret Tehran in Los Angeles, one of the places at which Suhaila was performing at the time. (Incidentally, this was the same location where Dances for the Sultan was filmed.) The lighting and sound crew for the video were the same that worked at Cabaret Tehran in the evenings during Suhaila’s show. They opted to use the “controversial” strobe light. The strobe light was used during the live performances, and it helped provide some light and dynamic to the atmosphere in a subtle way; however, the strobe did not translate well to the video and resulted in a more extreme effect and didn’t quite capture the true ambiance of Cabaret Tehran’s environment.
This video also included the legendary sarcophagus shot. Before the film shoot, the crew went to a movie studio warehouse and were able to borrow some props free of charge. They were excited to find a sarcophagus which they brought back for filming. The joke on set was the Suhaila should “enter” by coming out of the sarcophagus and then “exit” by returning to it. Because the crew was so proud of finding the sarcophagus, Suhaila improvised with it a bit. . . and the “joke” ended up making it into the filming.
Zei El Hawa Intro 1/3
Zei El Hawa Drum Solo 2/3
Zei El Hawa Finale 3/3
