Mazaher (Egypt)

To attend a performance by Mazaher is a very special, hypnotic experience, putting the listener in touch with ancient and trancelike pre-Christian and pre-Islamic traditions. The musicians of Mazaher, Um Sameh, Um Hassan and Nour El Sabah, are among the foremost, and last, practitioners of the genre zar in Egypt today. This form of music has traditionally been preserved and practiced by women while men play a secondary role. It combines singing, polyrhythmic drumming, dancing and revolves around the six-string Egyptian lyre called tanbura. This sacred instrument is pictured on the walls of tombs and temples of ancient Egypt. Another important instrument is the mangour, a leather belt sewn with many goat hooves and various percussion instruments.

It all comes together in a healing ritual, often misunderstood as a form of exorcism. It has more to do with harmonizing the inner lives of the participants. Zar creates a space where human beings can work out the tensions and frustrations of social constraints without limiting the way they move, dress, speak or dream. In short, it does what great music often does. 

The Zar is said to have originated in East Africa and, although its practice is disappearing in Egypt, the ritual flourishes in other parts of East Africa and in the Arabian Peninsula. Shunned by the religious establishment, the state and the official cultural elite, Zar is a part of the underground culture. As such, it has survived as a sub-culture in its original form without any major interference. Many of the polyrhythmic songs and chants are distinctively different from other Egyptian music traditions. Many songs have been forgotten and the practice of zar in Egypt has nearly vanished. Not more than a dozen persons within greater Cairo still have knowledge of the musical legacy of the zar. In the whole of Egypt only around 25 people continue to practice this knowledge and this tradition. At Oslo World this autumn, Mazaher will show that while it’s almost extinct in modern Egypt, zar is still a vital form of musical communication and escapism. 

Buy a double ticket for Mazaher + BCUC

The amazing band BCUC from South Africa will also perform the same night at Nasjonal Jazzscene - and you can buy a double ticket for a reduced night, making this a truly special allnighter at one of Oslo’s most beautiful venues.