Search - Awlad Abou al-Ghreit :: Zar 2 - Tumboura

This is the second in a series of 3 albums of traditional Zar music from Egypt released in conjunction with the book by Yasmin Henkesh, Trance Dancing with the Jinn. For centuries women in Africa and the Middle East have used Zar music to cure pain in times of stress or illness. Followers of the Zar cult believe that sometimes their illnesses are caused by red spirits - the Zar - who use human bodies as hosts. These spirits attract attention to themselves by making their hosts sick. Only after acknowledging a spirit s presence and meeting its demands can a woman hope to attain a symbiotic relationship with her possessor --- and she discovers the identity of this intruder by dancing to this music until she collapses into a trance. A quote by Lucy, the famous Egyptian belly dancer, from the 1991 National Geographic documentary: I started dancing when I was 12 years old. Since I can remember, whenever I heard music my body would just start to move. I couldn t control it. I used to love it when the old women got together for a Zar. A Zar was called when someone was possessed by evil spirits. If you were mad, or sad, or upset, that s how you would get it out. As a young girl, when I went to the Zar, I was always very affected by it. I would get so exhausted that I would collapse and fall. I realized that the music took me over. The beat can get inside of you and make you crazy. The rhythm gets you. You know, like when you re listening to Western rock music, you get hysterical. You have to get up and dance. You can t stop moving. This album was recorded in Cairo by some of the few remaining Zar musicians left in Egypt. Their Sudanese roots can be heard in the music's distinctive African drum rhythms. Each spirit is believed to answer to a specific song and rhythm. Included are translations and transliterations of the lyrics. There are many reasons why women are attracted to the Zar in the Middle East. Lower class women living in poverty are under a great deal of stress in their daily lives. Yet there are few if any outlets for them to blow off steam. Proper Islamic behavior dictates that women stay home and act with dignity, i.e. cook, clean and take care of their husbands and children. To go out dancing is not an option. Neither is seeing a psychiatrist if they feel depressed or suicidal. Mental illness as a curable disease is not accepted in many rural areas. But the belief in spirits is wide spread in Egypt and Africa and dates back thousands of years. Even the Quran mentions The Jinn and other beings as God's creations, in addition to humans. Through a belief in spirit possession, women forge a social network that acts as a safety net. Their undiagnosable physical ailments allow them to dance and occasionally smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. The ceremonies allow adepts to forget their everyday lives and travel to the spirit world for a much needed break. Zar music is not meant to be performed on stage. It has little to do with modern Middle Eastern fare. But it is mesmerizing nonetheless, with an undeniable rhythm. It is raw and unpolished. It speaks of the desert and the region's long history. It is also disappearing, as Islamic fundamentalists crack down on what they believe to be an animistic practice. That is why I wanted to preserve this music and present it to the world community - so that it is not lost or forgotten.