Mazaher is an ensemble in which women play a leading role. The musicians of Mazaher, Umm Sameh, Umm Hassan, Nour el Sabah, are among the last remaining
Zār
In the cultures of the Horn of Africa and adjacent regions of the Middle East, ''Zār'' ( ar, زار, gez, ዛር) is the term for a demon or spirit assumed to possess individuals, mostly women, and to cause discomfort or illness.
The so-cal ...
(زار) practitioners in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
.
Zār is a community healing ritual of drumming and dancing whose tradition is carried on mainly by women (men have the secondary roles) and whose main participants are women.
A featured instrument in the Zār ritual is the
tanbūra, a six-string
lyre
The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...
, which, like the Zār practice itself, exists in various forms in an area stretching across East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
Although this sacred instrument is pictured on the walls of tombs and temples of
Pharaonic Egypt, the practice of Zār in ancient Egypt is still a matter of conjecture. Other instruments are the ''
mangour'', a leather belt sewn with many goat hooves, and various percussion instruments.
References
{{reflist
External links
Mazaherat Egyptian Center for Culture and Art
Egyptian musical groups