Bellydancer Marta Publicity

Germany

I lived in Wiesbaden when I first arrived in Germany, and later moved to Bad Godesberg near Bonn. There I met Hans Jürgen Hilberath and performed weekends in his Restaurant "Saray" located in Plittersdorf overlooking the Rhein River. The restaurant was large and elegant. My show was accompanied by a Turkish band led by Faruk Görsev. The keyboard player, Murat, even taught me to sing a few Turkish songs.

Hans helped me to establish Germany's first dance school dedicated to belly dance, called Erstes Orientalisches Tanz Schule. During this time, I was listed with the major German artist agencies and a member of the "Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund" (DGB) union. The agencies provided the opportunity to perform throughout Germany so I was always on the road driving somewhere to do a show or television and advertising engagements.

France

Hans and I went to Paris for a weekend to visit the Yildizlar restaurant off of the Champs Elysee' on the Rue du Colisee. I had read about in the International Herald Tribune as being the number one arabic nightclub in Paris. The club was very elegant with a huge floor show including an Egyptian orchestra, singers, folklore troup, and bellydancer. As is true of exclusive clubs on world-famous streets, the prices reflected the location and clientele.
At the end of the evening when we received the bill for two glasses of wine and mezza, Hans said to Maitre Elias, "If you charge two hundred Francs for two glasses of wine, how much are you paying the belly dancer?"
"Why?" said Elias, "is your wife a dancer?"
"Yes," answered Hans.
"Wait here a moment," said Elias as he turned and went down a hallway.
We ended up going back to Germany, packed my costumes and returned for what was to be a 10-day fill-in gig for the regular dancer who was going on vacation to Japan. The engagement turned into five months. There were two reasons my engagement was extended: The owner, Madame Mirza, liked that I had a husband and wouldn't be tempting hers; and Maitre Elias and the manager George Malaxas said I brought more tips than any dancer except Abeer. Madame Mirza loved that! In those days the tips were divided 'tilt': one third to the house, one third to the band, one third to the artist. I was taking home a few thousand Francs every night.

United Arab Emirates

It's funny how we ended up in the UAE. We met the owner of the Holiday Inn, Abu Dhabi at a function in Cannes, France. Mohammed Abdel Jalil Al Fahim, owns several businesses in Abu Dhabi. He approached Hans asking if I would like to perform in his hotel over Christmas and New Year. We said yes and a two-week gig turned into 13 years!