The presence of musicians and an audience in the Makan theater hall for performances in central Cairo suggests that what is going on is a traditional concert, but it is not. As the spirits mingle with the presence, and under dim lights, Umm Sameh sings to treat the sick and rid them of what demons do to them, in what is known as the zar.
a trip
Zar moved to Egypt several centuries ago from Ethiopia and Sudan, and spread throughout North Africa. The names and musical instruments used vary, but the goal is one, which is to remove the jinn and evil spirits from the bodies of their victims, according to the prevailing beliefs.
Traditionally, this ritual lasted for several days and required the sacrifice of animals. But in Makan, no blood is shed. Rather, the musicians present an updated version of the zar that fascinates Egyptians who are passionate regarding heritage, and tourists who discover the ritual of exorcisms.
The audience swayed with the rhythm, enjoying Umm Sameh’s voice and taken in by the look of her kohled eyes.
Ahmed al-Maghrabi, founder of Mazahir, the last existing band that specializes in performing zaar on stage, explains that “this very ancient ritual is linked to a kind of treatment.”
In 2000, the Moroccan inaugurated the Makan Center to preserve “this heritage and create a historical record of Egyptian folk music.”
Critics
The man explains that he wanted to restore Lazar its value as an original art in the face of criticism from clerics who reject it and the authorities who want to eradicate rural traditions and move to modernity.
Al-Mughrabi notes that Eastern and Egyptian society looks at all that is local with disgust.
Therefore, the audience for “Mazaher” was almost entirely foreigners when it was launched 22 years ago, according to the founder of the band,
He recalls that the Egyptians who attended the performance were astonished that the zaar presented by the band was “devoid of blood and jinn.”
“We are not charlatans or charlatans,” says Umm Sameh, 72, the lead singer.
Since she was eleven, Umm Sameh learned the weather from her mother and grandmother.
Sixty years later, she still sings the same lyrics to the same melodies, and she proudly asserts that she has neither written lyrics nor melodies. And she adds, “We learned it (this art) from a young age and grew up on its rhythm.”
spiritual art
The singer, who hangs from her ears with huge gold earrings and covers her forearms with ringing gold bracelets, describes the zar as a spiritual art that expels negative energy and includes some Sufi songs.
Abu Samra, who plays the folkloric stringed tanbura, regrets that people have a very negative idea of the zar because of the films.
In the eighties of the twentieth century, the movie “Daqqa Zar” dealt with the story of musicians who manipulate a woman by scaring her of the jinn.
Abu Samra says that it is an art like all other arts, and these inherited ideas must be forgotten.
