Zar Night, Wednesday 2/18

 

Zar at Makan House

2/18

Wednesday

Well, I decide to throw caution to the wind and put the books away for a night! Bridget is interested in going to the Zar show at Makan House in downtown Cairo that starts at 9 PM. But before that happens a few other things come up.

 

The first is Annieck has been experiencing pain in her jaw on the right side for several days and decides it is time to do something about it. She has checked with her insurance and talked to the staff at the school. The school has recommended a hospital clinic that is actually very close to our apartment and she calls to see if she can make an appointment. She is given the name of a doctor and told where to go to register.  Annieck asks me to go with her. Neither one of us is sure we really want to experience the Egyptian hospital scene, but the other option is to do nothing so off we go. Actually, it went better than in either of our own countries! There isn’t a long line at the registration desk and they don’t need your life history, just name, address and phone number. We are also surprised that the fee is only 150 EP, or about $30 US. They send us to another floor where we wait about 5 minutes at most before seeing a doctor. He is a nice man in his 50’s and he speaks excellent English. After a few questions about her condition and a brief examination of her jaw, ears, and throat, he gives her directions for treatment and a prescription for inflammation/pain relief. Basically she needs to rest the joint-- soft food, no gum chewing…  take the prescription and if it isn’t better in a week to come back. If it is still bothering her, they may look into a mouth guard to keep her from clenching at night.  We are in and out of there in less than an hour! Being that there are usually 2 pharmacies on each block in Cairo, getting the prescription filled on the way home is no problem –mish mushkila!

 

The next problem we encounter is our Internet is down. It is like a lifeline being cut to friends and family! The wireless we have been using has suddenly disappeared and any other open ones are too weak to use. When it does finally come back up later in the evening it is locked.  Khalas- that is the end of our free Internet and Internet in the flat. It means we will have to do all of our Skype and email at Internet cafes and school. We talk about looking into wireless services advertised by the Egyptian mobile phone companies tomorrow. It is hard to find services for only a couple of months at reasonable prices, but we will see.

 

The next surprise is that the minutes on my cell phone are up. Not having a phone tonight will make meeting Bridget for the Zar show problematic. I need a phone card to recharge the phone, and with no Internet, I have no idea where to go to find one that will work with it. Annieck tells me that cards are sold at almost every market, and since she is more “phone-literate” than I am in these matters, agrees to go with me and show me how to recharge the phone. At a small grocer down the block we find a card for 50EP and head back to the flat to hook me up. We try it several times without success. With Annieck’s phone we text Bridget, who is with Nicole having dinner in Khan el-Khalili, and ask her to call me. I can accept calls but can’t call or text out. As it turns out Eslam is with them and quickly takes my problem under his wing- Nicole has an angle for an assistant! It turns out the card I purchased doesn’t work with my phone so Eslam says he will get one that does, call the phone company and get me back in service. This guy does it all- we are in good hands. Of course this will take a bit of time, so Bridget knows that she has to call me and that I can’t call her as we rendezvous for the show.

Actually, coordinating our rendezvous goes smoothly. I have an easy time taking a taxi as traffic is very manageable. We meet at the Nile Hilton on Tahir Sq. then walk to the show. Bridget has a friend-of-a-friend with her; Maha, a very sweet Egyptian woman who accompanies us and knows where the show is.

The Egyptian government puts on the Zar at Makan House. For a tourist show, I was surprised at how many Egyptians there were in the audience. Maha, Bridget, and I take front row cushions around the “stage area”. The place is packed. The performers consist of 6 older men and 4 women all with lots of drums of various types. There is a woman who seems to be the leader. She and one of the men are the main singers. I love watching her move to the drums as she sings, seeing its pulse in her body, an ever so slight shoulder drop, a sudden bow to the heavy beat, a sway of the whole body- and the joy too. Most of the show is music with a heavy ayoub (2/4) beat and all of the songs seem to start out slow and then reach a frenzied ending. One of the women plays very large sagats (finger cymbals), sings chorus, and goes from swaying to the music to a dancing ecstatically as the music picks up. The rest form the performers form the chorus/band. There is a nay player who starts several of the pieces with a taqasim (improvisation), and in the second half, a semsemia player. We are treated to hibiscus tea at intermission. Then, in the second half of the show 2 of the men performers wear heavy belts with goat hooves on their hips that they shake to the music with small, rapid twisting movements. One dances about the space while shaking the hooves belt, too. Some of the songs seem to be favorites of the Egyptians as they enthusiastically clap along. It is hard to believe that 2 hours have passed when the show ends.