Thread: Talk to me about zar

Hi all,

I'm just curious about the background of zar; I have seen several things online but as you know there is a lot of strange stuff out there. Educate me! ..g.:

i have an expert here.she teaches a workshop at our studio every other year. i can also show you dvd's when you are here.go over the principles and what we carry over to our dance.
basically, it is a trance dance.

I'm curious too! The all-female 'trance' dances of Morocco, working with energy and Inner Spirits, seem to be very closely related. Those are said to pre-date Christianity, but I wonder just how far back they go and where they started?

Someone bust out some knowledge! ..g.:

If there's any way you can get to JTE 1 with Sahra, I highly recommend it. Her zar info is great. (And everything else in the course!!!!!) I know there is much more to explore on the topic.

That sounds great, Cory! I realized that although I'd seen it before I didn't have much background information on it (and its use within the context of a performance).

I'm with Nasila, though - it'd be good to have some info to start on!

Kiyaana - thanks for the info but I don't think I'll be able to make those; too much going on! ..g.:

Zar is more ritual than dance, although dancers sometimes imitate the movements onstage. The real thing isn't a spectator sport, it's very personal. Women gather for release, healing, etc. Someone drums or plays hypnotic music (often the slow Ayoub rhythm) and the women just...move. Toss their heads, shoulders, etc. It's not terribly different from headbanging, although slower and with more obvious trance results. It's a pre-islamic tradition, most ME people are kind of embarrassed by it as a superstitious activity-- even if they participate in it.

I've only been to one 'real' zar, it felt a lot like going (straight & sober, as is my way) to a Grateful Dead tribute band... just getting lost in the music and the movement until you are in a trance state.

Yasmin has a FANTASTIC youtube clip about zar, let me see if I can find it for you. There's also some wonderful documentary footage of a real Zar on Aisha Ali's 'Dances of Egypt' video.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KJFlDtT70c]YouTube - The Zar[/ame]

I'm surprised her video doesn't even mention the Maghrebi similarities. From what I understand, the Guedra that Morocco studied is Tuareg in origin but apparently no one knows the history of the Tuareg, and this was more a rite of passage than a trance dance. I don't recall the names of the other main trance dances in Morocco and neighboring Berber tribes, but was told they all include hair tossing and energy-throwing and/or hand-flicking and very similar rhythms. Anyone have any more background on those?

So zar absolutely *is* a spiritual dance? I just wanted to double check on that. How are hair flips/tosses as used in bellydance related, then? Or are they?

Zar is better defined as a "placating of inner spirits" that people are thought to carry within. It's not really 'related' to belly dance at all. Occasionally the rhythm that's commonly associated with zar (ayoub) may show up in an oriental show and the dancer may give a nod, but other than that there is not much relation.

There are similar "trance dances" (some in a sort of underground way like the zar and some more like a weekly prayer ritual) found throughout the Maghreb, Near and Middle East.

Here's a really good article from Egypt Today, interviewing some zar practitioners:

et - Full Story

And if you really want in-depth, there's Janice Boddy's book Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men and the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan (which is, of course, adjacent to Upper Egypt). You can usually find used copies for pretty cheap.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Wombs-Alien-Spirits-Northern-Directions/dp/0299123146/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244663316&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Wombs And Alien Spirits: Women, Men, And The Zar Cult In Northern Sudan (New Directions in Anthro Writing): Janice Boddy: Books[/ame]

I love the zar, even though I don't know as much about it as I would like to. What I find amazing is that this is supposed to be de-stressing while all I can think about is how they avoid getting a major headache. But it is fascinating, and I think it's because these people do go outside of themselves somehow.

flipping and thrashing...pushing evil away, bring good in.
i have a dvd...that i can not find right now..got it off the DOC channekl, "estasy in dance"...something like that
there is a zar.alll female, colored cloth on their heads to attract what they want
there are drummers, and a woman with shot glasses on her fingers, playing then on a brass tray..i'll keep looking!

Shushu Amin has a staged zar example in one of her show DVDS.
Yasmin (serpentine.org) has an excellent zar cd with a 30 something page booklet with tons of info.

Another good book that discusses it is
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Women-Demons-International-Sociology-Anthropology/dp/9004127712]Amazon.com: Women and Demons: Cultic Healing in Islamic Egypt (International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology): Gerda Sengers: Books[/ame]

although I didn't pay $90 for mine :O

Thanks for all the help!