Friday March 29th, 2024
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CJC X Makan

Cairo Jazz Club is teaming up with downtown cultural hub, Makan, to bring you monthly performances from traditional musicians from across Egypt. First up, Zar, courtesy of the feisty females that make up the Mazaher Ensemble, this Saturday...

Staff Writer

CJC X Makan

In today’s day and age, it’s all too easy to get sucked in and conditioned by whatever form of music or art is currently in trend, or currently playing at the closest places in which you can get a bit tipsy and chase some skirt. It’s often through this that we get stuck in a cycle listening and getting in to the same type of music without regards as to why, or how exactly the music affects us, and how it changes us.

This Saturday at Cairo Jazz Club, you’ll get the chance to experience something completely out of most of our comfort zones as part of CJC’s new partnership with Makan. Makan is Cairo’s ultimate culture hub and has become one of the few institutions working to revive and maintain alternative forms of traditional music from all over Egypt, over the last few years. This Saturday, 11th January, sees the delivery of CJC's and Makan's first musical baby, as the downtown arts' space introduces one of their frequently sold-out acts to Cairo Jazz Club's eager audiences at the first collaboration, putting the unique Mazaher Ensemble on centre stage.

Umm Sameh, Umm Hassan, Nour El Sabah make up Mazaher, one of the few groups in traditional Egyptian music in which women play a leading role, and they play Zar music, which is practiced mainly in Upper Egypt.

The ideologies of Zar music stem from communal healing rituals, with specific drumming and dancing techniques which are meant to harmonise the inner lives of the participants and listeners. The experience can be cathartic; a physical and spiritual purification that leaves one calm and ready to face the world again. There's a common misconception that plagues the few remaining performers of the traditional form of music, however, as it was at one point believed to be  type of exorcism ritual. But with the rhythmic beats and soothing melodies that characterise Zar, the only demon that will be slayed is the one that keeps pushing you to listen to the music over and over and over and over and over again.

So if that sounds like something you’re looking for in your life or you’re just curious to experience some new sounds in an environment you know and love… or if you’re a big fan of Zar music and wondered what it would be like to listen to with a few beers down your gullet… head to Cairo Jazz Club’s first collaboration with Makan this Saturday.

Book for Cairo Jazz Club online at Tazkarty.net or call 02 37496162