What I learned was you say "la la la la la......" as high pitched as you can, over time it develops in to "leh leh leh leh..." which is the sound I usually make. However it's a regional sound, there for some people would say it's more of a "lo lo lo lo....." sound. The recordings of Egyptian wedding parties sound mor like "lee lee lee....." i think. I hope that helps. You really need to let go of any inhibitions to try it. You want it high and loud!

Think Zena or channel her anyway. ^_^ For the easier version you just do the "la, la, la..." sound like nina said to do. For a harder one to try, bare with me on describing it, you take your tongue and toss it right and left really fast at your lips. Which I think that's how you get the different sounds from the different regions. Remember to cover your mouth though. Some say its for keeping demons out. But really thinking about how disturbing zagareets look, I'd say to cover up too. ^_^ Good Luck!

My version:
1. Make sure your neighbours are away from home for the weekend
2. Take a good deep breath
3. Shrieking from the back of the throat, say lalalalalalalala (the tongue is just behind your front teeth, and waggling up and down- a proper Egyptian zaghareet has the tongue waggling from side to side, but I've never got the hang of that, and this makes the same basic noise)
4. When you are running out of breath, or when your tongue is giving up through natural confusion, finish the zaghareet with a long eeeeeeeee, which you allow to die down.
5. If you want to do the thing properly, hold your hand to the upper lip, palm down, (your thumb is down towards your jawbone) while you are doing it, so that you don't let the demons in. (This also handily masks the fact that you are doing the tongue-up-and-down version!)

The shrieking is quite important to give it the true ululating sound.

When I was new to zaghareeting, I would practise it driving along motorways (that's freeways in American) when I was alone in my car, as I could be sure it wouldn't bother anybody else.

""You really need to let go of any inhibitions to try it. You want it high and loud!""

Well, that pretty much explains why my feeble attempts don't work - I'm holding in the voice - ok, so tomorrow morning, on the way to work, I'm gonna' start practicing.

It's got to be the one thing in dancing for 2 1/2 years that I really, really want to learn and can't seem to get the hang of .

Thanks ladies.................

There have been so many great explanations of HOW to do it, so I'll add a bit of cultural perspective...

The singular form of this word is "zagharoot". In other words, if you do only one, it's a zagharoot. But the plural is "zaghareet", so if you do a whole bunch that's the word to use.

Among Arabs, it's typically done as a noise of happiness, NOT as applause for a dancer. Let's say your best dance buddy came shrieking with happiness to you to tell you she'd just secured a high-paying prestigious dance gig. It would be appropriate in Arab culture to do a zagharoot in response, just as it would be appropriate in our culture to say, "That's wonderful!" or "Fan-freakin'-tastic!" or "Yippee!" or "Woo-hoo!"

When I've been at belly dance shows where the audience was mostly Arabic, they didn't do zaghareet for the dancer. This whole idea of using zaghareet as a form of applause seems to come from us American belly dancers. For that reason, I cringe when a belly dance show organizer tries to teach the audience zaghareet as a form of showing appreciation. It shows a misunderstanding of the sound and the culture it comes from. When you get a whole audience full of dancers zaghareeting for the performer, it's very un-Arab.

Don't get me wrong, occasionally an Arab WILL do a zagharoot for a dancer. Often, it's because one of the songs in her set is a song the Arab in question just loves, and s/he's so excited to hear it that there is an uncontrollable urge to zagharoot. Or maybe something the dancer does is particularly moving, or reminding of home, or exciting, that the person just can't control him/herself and cuts loose with a good zagharoot to show excitement.

I saw a woman at a wedding in Egypt use the wagging of the tongue from side to side style of zagharoot to express her joy at a wedding. I agree with everyone who thinks it looks odd!

Would some fabulously talented, techno savvy zagareet-er post a video instructional on You -tube cause I'm having a hard time learning something audible from something written. I still sound like a drowning monkey =(

Some years ago, I was in Las Vegas for a business trip. A male coworker, who knew that I'm a belly dancer, expressed interest in accompanying me to the Marrakesh restaurant to see the dancer, so we went together. He had NEVER seen a belly dance performance before that night.

When the dancer entered, the audience in general greeted her with lukewarm applause. I wanted to encourage her, so I did a zagharoot. Her eyes immediately locked on mine and she smiled. She went on with her show. When she made her way to our table, she (not surprisingly) got me up to dance with her, so I did. She went on with her show.

Afterward she finished her show, she went back stage, changed her clothes, came to our table, and chatted with us a few minutes.

The rest of the week, my coworker told others about the experience of going to the Moroccan restaurant with me. He told people, "Belly dancers have their own way of signaling each other - they make this weird high-pitched sound. And once they know one of their own is in the audience, they pay special attention to each other. The performer will get her fellow dancers up to dance with her, that's their way of having fun with each other." It was so funny hearing him tell everyone this! It's as if he thought the zagharoot was a secret code of some sort!

I found this cool video clip. It has some great bits of Egyptians dancing, but it also has a bit of an Egyptian woman doing zaghareet facing the camera - you can see her tongue wagging from side to side! See www.youtube.com/watch

well, i can't add much to the "how to" (other that agreeing with the fact that is it VERY hard to do it quietly ^_^)
but i did want to share this: my teaching in my home town (the woman i've only had the pleasure of taking lessons from a few times, since my work schedule was very hectic) would end each of our classes with a group zagareet. it might not have been culturally correct (we were doing tribal after-all) but it was always a lot of fun and very energizing after working hard during class. she would start it off and we would "pass it" around the cool-down circle a few times. ^_^
ps: don't worry too much about the spelling of Arabic words. there will always be variations because the roman letters are only approximations of the Arab sounds. ^_~

I personally love to hear zaghareet at shows, no matter what the size. Bellies for Life '08 had an amazing (and towards the end, fairly tipsy), mostly-female and pretty rowdy audience--I think as an American audience, it's a way of letting loose that makes the energy level in the room completely skyrocket. I have never seen (in my limited and limiting experience) a bellydancer who didn't appreciate it.

A friend of mine, incidentally, does her zaghareet differently: we both learned to say "lih lih lih lih lih" really high and fast, like you're singing Wagnerian opera, but hers travels from the front of her tongue to the back, so it becomes more like "li li liyi yi yi yi yi yi". Basically she's moving the back of her tongue up and down really, really fast, with the high-and-loud voice coming out on a "y" sound rather than an "L". The tongue in front doesn't waggle, so it looks a little strange if you know what a zaghareet should look and sound like.

Just another opinion. ;) And you should totally practice in your car. I do. But roll down the windows first (at least in the back seat) because a small car can get really loud, really fast.

i just remembered another thing: we were doing a basic belly dance thing with women's student union at my school, and the last thing we did was learn the zagareet. anyway, the walls are thin, and the group next door started yelling "we can hear you!" and i thought it was some sorority girls being obnoxious, but that is was weird how well they were doing it for someone that was making fun.
after the event i went and looked at who was over there, it was my dance partner (well.... if she wasn't busy every minute of everyday!) and the student Pagan union, they were cheering us on ^_^