On Saturday 23rd October at 7:30 p.m., Casa Árabe will be presenting a concert by Mazaher, one of the few bands still connected to the Egyptian musical tradition.
Mazaher is one of the best-known groups on the Egyptian music scene, whose concerts in Cairo’s legendary Makan Hall are an unforgettable experience. In Mazaher, women are the absolute protagonists and their artistic proposal connects with the most ancient tradition in various regions of Egypt. Um Sameh, Um Hassan and Nour El Sabah are among the last remaining Zar practitioners in the country. Mazaher’s repertoire, collected on his album Ahabu! (2020), draws on the three sub-genres of Egyptian Tsar music: Upper Egyptian, Abul Gheit and Tambura or African Tsar. As a whole, tsar is a communal healing ritual transmitted through song, the multiple rhythms of drums and dance, with women as the main transmitters (men have secondary roles here). Its real objective is none other than to harmonise the inner world of its participants, creating a space where human behaviour can be released from tensions or frustrations and becoming a cathartic and purifying experience, which pacifies and calms the spirit.
