Zar at Makan

What zar is

A person is understood to be inhabited by a spirit that cannot be expelled and must be negotiated with. The rite finds out which spirit it is, what it wants, and what will keep it satisfied: particular rhythms, particular songs, incense, colors, sometimes an animal. The one who is possessed dances until the spirit is answered. It is a treatment rather than an exorcism, and the relationship is expected to last.

Egypt has at least three traditions under the name: an Egyptian and Upper Egyptian zar, the Abu Gheit zar, and a Sudanese or African zar that came up the Nile with enslaved people and migrants.

Why it is nearly gone

Zar has been squeezed from several directions at once: by religious authorities who call it unorthodox, by the state, by medicine, and by the ordinary cost of keeping a practice alive when the people who hold it are old and the young have other work. The practitioners of Mazaher are among the last who perform it publicly in Egypt.

What Makan does and does not do

The Egyptian Center for Culture and Arts, known as Makan, gathered surviving performers, rehearsed, recorded, and put them on stage. The center is explicit that it documents and promotes the music, and that it is not conducting or documenting the ritual itself.

That line is the interesting part of the place. What you attend is a performance of the repertoire of a healing rite, played by women who learned it as a healing rite, in a room where nobody is being healed. It is how the music survives, and it is also what the music has been reduced to.

Who plays

Mazaher is led by women, which is true of zar generally. Um Sameh, Um Hassan, and Nour el Sabah play the drums and sing the invocations, with a tanbura, and the audience is a mix of Cairenes, Egyptians from elsewhere, and visitors.

Makan is at 1 Saad Zaghloul Street in El Dawaween, downtown. Doors open around 8:30pm on performance nights, tickets run about 20 pounds in advance and 30 at the door, and dates are set by the center rather than fixed weekly, so reserving by email or checking the listing before going is the difference between an evening and a locked door.

The room is small, seating is basic, and the music is loud and close. Recording is usually restricted, so ask rather than assume.

Downtown Cairo around Saad Zaghloul is walkable and busy in the evening, with Sadat metro a short distance away, and taxis and ride apps are straightforward for the trip back.