Mazaher
Women-led zār ensemble with drums, tamboura and trance
Based in Cairo, Egypt · From Egypt
Mazaher’s set is built from zār: pulsing hand drums, the six-stringed tamboura, rattling mangour and group chant. Expect call-and-response forms that move from steady groove into trance pressure, with the ensemble locked around rhythm rather than solo display.
More about Mazaher
They work in the Egyptian zār tradition, a communal healing practice centered on song, drumming and trance. Mazaher are a women-led group preserving rare styles from that lineage, and their recordings foreground the voices of Um Sameh, Um Hassan and Nour El Sabah.
A story
The group’s Bandcamp notes call zār an ancient healing ritual of song, drumming and trance.
Playing
- 2026-11-08 2026-11-08T18:15:00 · Mazaher · TivoliVredenburg
Start here
- Zār (2019)
Main document of the group’s ritual sound. - Teir El Bar (2019)
Good snapshot of the tamboura-led trance feel.
Worked with
- Um Sameh band member
- Um Hassan band member
- Nour El Sabah band member
For fans of
The Heliocentrics, Bata Illic?, Orquesta AkokánOfficial links
Plan Le Guess Who? 2026 with Songpot · Ask about Mazaher in ChatGPT or Claude