Music Listening in the Ritual of Zar

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor, School of Performing Arts and Music, College of Fine arts, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The Zar ritual (ceremony) is a musical ritual known and performed in a vast area of ​​the world ranging from the northern and southern borders of the Persian Gulf to East and North Africa, spanning from Iran, Iraq, Dubai, Oman, Zanzibar (Ethiopia – east Africa), Egypt, Sudan and other countries within this vicinity. The performers of this ritual believe that their participation is an interaction between the beliefs derived from the ancient archetypes and the current beliefs about this ritual. On the one hand, this combines their current beliefs with their religious culture and on the other hand, they believe it will alleviate their pains and treat their illnesses. In this ideology, the illnesses can be of all sorts of ailments such as physical handicap like body paralysis, any sort of chronic pains in different parts of the body like the head, eye, stomach, or mental diseases like amnesia or depression. Social unluckiness in certain cultures isis also considered as a sort of illness. The patient is exposed to direct music for three to five consecutive days following the preliminary rituals. He/she assigns his/her mind and body to the world of winds (invisible supernatural forces), listens to music and rejoices in its rhythm. The Zar can be Muslim, atheist, African, Arab, Indian or Anglaise. Each Zar has its special character and needs to hear his special music since all ordered accessories are provided. From the intercultural perspective, this music is one of the most important elements in the treatment process. While researchers attribute the overall impact of the ritual to the beliefs and cultural behaviors, the performers of this ritual believe that music plays the key role in this ceremony. They believe that the Zar music is so influential that it should not be performed outside the ritual context, because the absence of factors such as a program director may distress the patient. These people believe that performing the music of the ritual in another situation will disturb and infuriate the supernatural forces and Zar winds. This shows the importance of listening to the Zar music in this ritual. This research tries to investigate this view from the perspective of the music impact by reviewing the ritual and concentrating on the functions of this music and the reactions of individuals and visitors to this music. We will achieve a different result about the impact of music based on written evidence and the role of music in the different stages of the ritual and healing ceremony. After a literature review of the Zar ritual in Iran and other cultural regions, we will provide an ethnographic study of this ritual with a functional approach to the music and the audience’s reactions to the performances. In the final section, we will examine the musical components of Zar songs and the importance and impact of "hearing" in the process of experiencing the emotional range and treatment progression. The importance of this approach is that it gives a new insight into the presence of music in the therapeutic rituals as a cultural input to better understanding the role of music among different cultures who practice this ceremony.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Fine Arts: Performing Arts & Music
Volume 24, Issue 2
June 2019
Pages 67-76

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