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A curated collection of our heritage preservation projects and artistic endeavors.
Mazaher Ensemble
Ritual trance music (Zar - Egypt)
My journey with the Zār People
By Dr. Ahmed El Maghraby
I began my journey with the Zār many years before the formation of the music band Mazāher in 1999. From the very first moment when I heard the first beat of the drums and met these wonderful people, I fell in love with them. I started to follow them and attended their Ḥaḍrāt (musical Sufi gatherings) and Layālī... I lived with them with all my being, gradually touching the multiple dimensions of the deeply rooted heritage of music and artistic popular sha‘bī songs which they carry with them as well as their vibrant humanity and their profound and diverse life experiences.
I found myself delving with them into their abundant worlds. They received me with immense kindness and infinite generosity so that I became quickly one of them. I found myself in front of a vivacious form of music with a social and psychological function, as music had in ancient times.
The Zār
Zār represents an art form in itself, even though it shares many original elements constituting all Egyptian artistic sha‘bī music and songs. It came to us from the South of the Nile valley from the peoples of East Africa... Zār is sometimes classified as a form of spiritual music because it is connected with a kind of ritual which aims at creating a state of reconciliation.
Zār Abu El Gheit
Named after one of the most famous Sufi saints in Qaliubiya, Sidi Abu El Gheit. The Gheitānī texts are situated in the same context as Islamic religious chants, between Dhikr and Al Madīḥ Al Nabawy.
Sudanese Zār (El Tanboura)
Depends on an instrument with the same name that has six strings as well as on Sudanese drums, most notably the Shakhāshīkh and the Mangour which is made of goat hooves.
Egyptian Zār (Ṡa‘īdī)
Mainly performed by women. It depends on the drum instruments Mazhar and Ḥāna as well as the cymbals Ṭūra and the maracas Shakhāshīkh.
About Mazāher Ensemble
"The music presented by Mazaher is a community healing ritual of singing, polyrhythmic drumming, and dancing whose tradition is carried mainly by women (men have the second roles). It’s distinctively different from other Egyptian music traditions."
Mazaher is one of the rare ensembles in which women play a leading role and are connected to a most ancient tradition practiced in several countries, and they’re the last zãr practitioners left in the world. The music presented by Mazaher is inspired by three different styles of Zar music in Egypt: the Egyptian or Upper Egyptian Zar, Abul Gheit Zar, and the Tamboura or African Zar.
Recent Selected Tours & Festivals
HKW
Berlin, Germany (2023)
Budapest Ritmo
Budapest, Hungary (2023)
OPRL
Liège, Belgium (2022)
Womad Festival
Wiltshire, UK (2022)
Colours of Ostrava
Czech Republic (2022)
Le Guess Who?
Utrecht, Netherlands (2021)
Womex
Porto, Portugal (2021)
Cafe Oto
London, UK (2022)