Mazaher

Healing ritual singing and percussion from Egypt.

With their trance-inducing performances, Mazaher has previously impressed on our stage and at groundbreaking festivals like Le Guess Who? The ensemble practices an ancient tradition aimed at healing, called Zar. With singing, dancing, and percussion, the spirits are calmed. Mazaher translates the Zar ritual to the stage by performing in a semicircle. In Zar, women take a leading role, and in Mazaher, these are Um Sameh, UmHassan, and Nour El Sabah, who are among the last performers of the genre.

The origin of Zar is said to be in the Horn of Africa, and the music especially flourished in Egypt. Poly-rhythmic layering and rousing call-and-response singing form the core. In addition to various frame drums, the members use the tanbura, a type of lyre, and the manjur, a leather belt adorned with rattling goat hooves. The lyrics are about love for nature and the divine. Marked by time, but still full of life, the women of Mazaher pass on their words of wisdom, dancing and singing.

Fatma Abouelella Mohamed lead vocals/Mazhar/Tabl Sudany, Fatma Khalil Tabla/Tabl Sudany/vocals, Nourelsabah Abdelaziz Sayed Mazhar/choir, Emam Mohamed Emam Tanboura/vocals, Ekhlas Mohamed Hafez Mazhar/choir