Paths Are ManyTruth Is One
← Back to all artists
Portrait of MazaherMohamed shokry algarnosy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Artist profile

Mazaher

Shamanism · Zār Ritual Healing Music

Ensemble from Cairo, founded in 1999 through the Egyptian Center for Culture and Art, who keep the Egyptian zār alive. Zār is a ritual healing tradition of its own, with African and Egyptian roots, in which song, dance and polyrhythmic drumming are used to make peace with the spirits; it is related to Sufism but is not the same thing. The group is led by women, among them Umm Sameh, Umm Hassan and Nour El Sabah, some of the last living practitioners of zār in Egypt.

ShamanismEgypt
View upcoming events →Watch talks
Visit site ↗
✓This profile is compiled from publicly available sources. Some details (video length, full event calendars) could not be independently confirmed and should be verified before relying on them. Know something about this teacher that belongs here? Please tell me.
About the artist

Mazaher

They play the three styles of zār, the Egyptian or Upper Egyptian, the Abu Gheit and the Sudanese or African, on instruments including the tamboura, a six-stringed lyre, and the mangour, a belt hung with goat hooves.

Zār is an endangered tradition with few practitioners left, and keeping it audible is much of what this group is for. They perform regularly at Makan in Cairo and tour in Europe.

Upcoming events

Meet Mazaher in person.

Talks, day programmes and retreats currently listed in the Paths Are Many calendar.

06OCT

Weekly zar night with Mazaher at Makan

Cairo, Egypt · Weekly zar night

€300Weekly zar night
07OCT

Zār at Makan, first concert

Cairo, Egypt · Concert

€300Concert
Talks & videos

Watch before you attend.

Short introductions and longer conversations, to hear this artist in their own words.

No talks are published yet.

Path

The wider context.

⟡
Nature & ritual

Shamanism

Ritual, connection with nature and symbolic journeys within living traditions.

Explore the path →
Explore further

Related artists.

View all artists →
Portrait of Keali'i Reichel
Shamanism

Keali'i Reichel

Kumu hula, singer and composer from Maui, born in 1962, who carries the Hawaiian oli and the hula lineage he was trained in. Oli is chanted prayer, a way of speaking directly to the ancestors and to the spirit world, and he founded the hālau Ke'alaokamaile to teach it. On stage he sets that inheritance beside his own contemporary Hawaiian songs, sharing what is meant to be shared and keeping the rest where it belongs.

Portrait of Robert Mirabal
Shamanism

Robert Mirabal

Musician, flute maker and flute player of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, born in 1966. He was raised in the tradition, speaks Tiwa, lives and works at the pueblo and takes part in its ceremonial life. His performances weave the flute and song of his people together with storytelling and dance, and he has won a Grammy for best Native American music album.

Portrait of Marja Mortensson
Shamanism

Marja Mortensson

South Sámi singer from Hedmark in Norway, born in 1995, who sings vuelie, the joik tradition of the South Sámi. Joik is a way of calling a person, an animal or a landscape into the room rather than singing about them, and it carries belonging as much as melody. The South Sámi branch is smaller and more endangered than the northern one, and she is one of the voices bringing it back.

Portrait of Stepanida Borisova
Shamanism

Stepanida Borisova

Singer and actress of the Sakha, the people of Yakutia in northeastern Siberia, born in 1950 in the village of Nakhara in the Megino-Kangalassky district. She trained as an actress and has been with the Sakha Academic Theatre in Yakutsk since 1974. From the 1980s she sang in its productions using toyuk, the improvised epic singing of the Sakha, and from the 1990s she has toured abroad as a folk singer.

Monthly selection

Stay connected with our newsletter.

Receive new talks, upcoming events and thoughtful editorial selections in one monthly email.