Category: Egypt

Tannoura: The Whirling Dervishes of Egypt

In Egypt, one of the forms of entertainment you may encounter in tourist shows is the tannoura. This consists of whirling to music, which originated as a Sufi ritual, and today in Egypt has become an elaborate artistic performance.

How Whirling Started

During the 13th century, the legendary poet Mevlana Jalaleddin Rumi made his way to the town of Konya, Turkey, where he settled.  Rumi was a practitioner of Sufism, which is an implementation of Islam that embraces mysticism. He believed in music, poetry, and dance as being paths for connecting with God.

Under Rumi’s leadership, the Mevlevi sect of Sufism arose in Konya, Turkey. Its participants used whirling as their way to let go of their ego and connect with God. The photo below shows the garb that Turkish dervishes wear for their semas (whirling rituals).

Photo copyright by Jewel. All rights reserved.

After the Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517, Turkish cultural influence began to make its way south to Egypt, and that included the Mevlevi whirling dervish sect.

The Egyptian Side of Whirling

Egypt’s tannoura performing art owes its origin to the Mevlevi practice sarted by Rumi, but modern-day performances of tannoura are designed to serve as entertainment, and therefore they incorporate showmanship techniques. Some retain the Sufi music and spiritual tone, while others have moved into a more secular direction.

The word “tannoura” means “skirt” in Arabic, and in this context refers to the skirts worn by the men. “Tannoura” has also come to refer to overall performance, and also the men wearing the skirts.  The Egyptian tannoura garb is very colorful, to enhance the spectacle.

Although Sufism exists in Egypt, the whirling tradition of the Turkish Mevlevi sect is not strong there. Instead, Egyptian Sufis prefer other movement formats.

In an Egyptian tannoura show, the whirlers manipulate the skirts to produce a variety of visual effects. Typically, the performer wears more than one skirt, which allows for the outer layers to be removed and used in the dancing. One level of skirt is sewn together at the outer edges, creating a cone effect when the top layer is raised above the head.

Photo copyright 2015 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

Another effect that tannoura performers create with their skirts is that of a whirling disk:

Photo copyright by Jewel, 2016. All rights reserved.

Cairo’s Al-Tannoura Egyptian Heritage Dance Troupe

The Al-Tannoura Egyptian Heritage Dance Troupe show at Wikala al-Ghouri is sponsored by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.  It begins with a performance of spiritual Sufi music, featuring in turn different musical instruments, including the mizmar (shown below), the nai (a type of flute), the percussion, and the singers.

Photo copyright 2016 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

After the musical introduction to the show, the Sufi dancers take the stage. These men wear white gallabiyat (robes) with a vest over them.  Their movement is choreographed for the stage; however, it is based on authentic Sufi ritual movement.

Photo copyright 2016 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

The dance performed by these men in the white gallabiyat is typical of traditional Egyptian Sufi movement such as could be seen at a zikr (ritual) during an Egyptian moulid (saint’s day celebration). As they complete their featured segment, the tannoura enters the stage wearing a more colorful ensemble of multiple skirts over trousers.

Photo copyright 2015 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

The focus turns to the tannoura, as the Egyptian-style Sufi dancers to perform in formations of a line behind him, or a circle moving around him.  Often, the tannoura will begin the performance with a group of brightly-painted frame drums in his hands, holding them in a variety of formations while continuously whirling.  Eventually, he hands these drums off to one of the other men while still continuing to turn.

He then loosens the ties holding one of his skirts in place, and raises it up off of the ones below.  At this point, he may hold it in various formations such as those shown earlier in this article, always while continuing to turn in place.

Eventually, this performance draws to a close, and the tannoura leaves the stage.

Photo copyright 2015 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

Next, a group of three other tannouras enters the stage.  They too use their skirts to create a variety of visual effects as they whirl. For example, these two are rotating their skirts around their necks as they turn.

If you’d like to find this group on social media, click here for their Facebook page.

Other Tannoura Performers

Tannoura performers appear in a variety of shows throughout Egypt, including Nile dinner cruise boats, nightclubs, and other entertainment environments.  These shows often create a more secular feeling than those of the Al-Tannoura Egyptian Heritage Dance Troupe.

The tannoura performers in these other environments often use secular music instead of the traditional spiritual Sufi music.  They typically appear as soloists, and may use pre-recorded music instead of live musicians.

It has become trendy for many of these performers to have an assistant dim the stage lights part of the way through their shows, at which point they turn on LED lights which have been sewn into their costumes.

I have also seen tannoura dancers pull an Egyptian flag out of their vests and hold it high as they whirl.

Closing Thoughts

I have gone to see the Al-Tannoura Egyptian Heritage Dance Troupe perform about 15 times since the first time I saw them in 1999. Sometimes I’ll go twice during the same trip to Egypt. I have never grown tired of it.  I find the spiritual Sufi music to be uplifting, and the dance performances to be mesmerizing.  Often, after attending a show, I find myself feeling calmer, less stressed, and peaceful.

I also enjoy the individual tannoura performers that I have seen in Nile dinner cruise shows and “Egyptian party” shows at hotels.  The flavor is different because of the more secular tone, but it’s always fun to see the showmanship ideas that the performers add to their whirling.

Aswan, Egypt: The Mystery of the Ostrich Egg

Today’s archaeology profession estimates the Pyramids of Giza to be about 4,600 years old. However, because the pyramids are made of stone, traditional dating methods using carbon-14 can’t be used to estimate their age. There really aren’t any good ways to determine when stone structures were built by examining the structures themselves – it is necessary to rely on organic material such as human remains found inside or near the structures.

In the case of the three major Giza pyramids, bodies were not found inside, and therefore the carbon-14 dating has relied on artifacts found on the surrounding plateau, such as remains of bread in a fire pit.  It’s a reasonable methodology, but it relies on the assumption that the pyramids were built at the same time as the village that surrounded them. However, what if the three large pyramids were built before the village? What if the village was built on top of something older which hasn’t been excavated yet?

Photo copyright by Jewel, 2017. All rights reserved.

What if the Pyramids of Giza are Older Than Believed?

However, perhaps a clue lies elsewhere to the age of the pyramids?

An ostrich egg was found in a tomb near Aswan that shows 3 triangular structures side by side. According to carbon dating methods, the human remains found in that same tomb were 7,000 years old. Therefore it is reasonable to think objects found in that tomb, including the egg, were equally old. Could the triangles etched on that presumably 7,000-year-old egg represent the pyramids of Giza? Some people think so, while others are skeptics. Alongside the triangles, there’s a marking that some people think could represent the Nile river and the Fayoum Oasis. But again, others are skeptics.

I haven’t seen any debate questioning that the egg itself is 7,000 years old. That seems to be accepted. The debate I’ve seen centers around what the drawing represents. Ie, does it represent the Giza pyramids, Nile River, and Fayoum Oasis as the theorists claim? Or does it represent something else?

The photo at the top of this page shows the view of the egg that I photographed when I visited the Nubian Museum in 2018.  It sits inside a glass case with a wall behind it, so there’s a limit to what angle can be photographed.  In 2019, I noticed that the museum had changed the angle of the egg that was visible to me, so I took another photo showing a clearer view of the three triangles:

Photo copyright 2019 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

The Meroitic Pyramids Theory and Why It Doesn’t Fit

Some skeptics have suggested that the 3 triangles might represent the Nubian pyramids of Sudan in the Meroitic kingdom of Kush. However, the Sudanese pyramids marked tombs, and were built much more recently (4,600 years ago) than the tomb the ostrich egg was found in (7,000 years ago).

The Nubian pyramids are also much farther south than where the egg was found, in what (during ancient times) would have been a different kingdom from the one governing the Aswan area where the egg was found.

Seeing the Egg for Yourself

Today, the ostrich egg resides in the Nubian Museum in Aswan, Egypt. I had the pleasure of seeing it firsthand myself on May 6, 2018 while I was in Aswan. It’s fascinating to look at this 7,000-year-old object and try to come up with alternate theories for what the image is showing.  So far, I keep coming back to the conclusion that maybe it does prove that the Pyramids of Giza are older than what mainstream archaeologists currently believe.

I look forward to seeing how future discoveries enhance our insight into the past.

What It’s Like to be in a Sandstorm in Egypt

April is the time of year when Egypt is most likely to experience khamaseen (sandstorms), but sandstorms can arrive during other parts of the year as well.  I’ve personally experienced these storms on 3 different visits to Egypt over the years, and in 2018 I “enjoyed” the bonus of experiencing two sandstorms in a single visit! Lucky me! My sandstorm adventures occurred on:

  • April 14, 2009 in Cairo
  • February 11, 2015 in Cairo
  • April 30, 2018 in Luxor
  • May 7, 2018 in Aswan

What a Khamaseen Is

The word khamaseen is the Arabic word for the number 50. It is also used to refer to strong winds that blow sand, which are most likely to appear in a 50-day period in the spring between mid-March and mid-May.

Wind speed typically exceeds 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour), and can be as high as 85 miles per hour (140 kilometers per hour), which is about the same as the wind speeds in a Category 1 hurricane. The storm can last for several hours, or even a couple of days.  The one I experienced in 2015 was a 2-day event, whereas the one I experienced in 2018 lasted only a couple of hours.

A khamaseen stirs up walls of dust and sand, filling the air with grit.  It’s fascinating to watch one approach, because it looks like a wall of sand heading your way.

What It’s Like to be in a Sandstorm

Jewel took both of these photos from the same window in Giza on February 11, 2015.

In many ways, a sandstorm reminds me of a blizzard, except that instead of being cold and snowy, it’s hot and sandy.

  • Both can snarl traffic due to problems with visibility.
      • Note the above photos I took of the pyramids and Sphinx. They show what the view from my hotel window looked like at two different times on February 11, 2015 – one before the sandstorm arrived, and the other during the storm.
      • Sometimes, rural roads close until visibility improves.
    • Both can create unsafe conditions that affect transportation.
      • When the khamaseen struck Luxor in April 2018, it stirred up choppy waters on the Nile river, causing ferries to suspend service until the water calmed.
      • Often, airlines will delay or cancel flights when a sandstorm arrives, due to the high winds and poor visibility.
    • Both cause businesses and schools to close early.  Our original plan for February 11, 2015  was to tour two museums.  Both museums hurried us through. They were eager to close so their employees could go home.
    • Both can produce howling high winds that last for several hours. The February 2015 sandstorm lasted 2 days, while the others I experienced lasted a few hours.
    • The strong winds can cause power outages.  That happened at our hotel in Luxor in 2018, causing a 30-minute outage.

    Coping with a Sandstorm

    Photo of Jewel coping with a sandstorm.

    It’s a very bad idea to wear contact lenses during a sandstorm. The grit gets under the lenses and hurts.  Glasses are much more comfortable, and they offer the bonus of protecting the eyes somewhat against the blowing sand.  This is why it’s so important for people who wear contact lenses to take along a pair of prescription glasses when traveling to Egypt. People who don’t need prescription lenses can wear either goggles or sunglasses for this purpose.

    The blowing sand irritates breathing passages, which can lead to allergies, asthma, or catching a cold. I think nearly every person in our group caught a cold after the 2015 sandstorm.  Egyptians will typically wrap a scarf to cover the nose and mouth.  Some even wear a mask over the nose and mouth for further protection.  In this 2015 photo, I’m doing both, with the scarf hiding the mask.

    If planning any kind of travel, it’s best to check whether the activities you want to do are still available, whether transportation is still running, and whether delays are expected.

    Closing Thoughts

    After experiencing several sandstorms in Egypt, I have to admit they’re not particularly pleasant.  However, I don’t worry about the possibility of being in one, and I’m willing to come to Egypt during the khamaseen season.  It’s interesting to take a step back and notice how people who live with this weather deal with it.  There’s always a story to tell if you look for it.

 

Cairo, Egypt: The Tarboosh Maker

In Cairo, Egypt, a short walk from the historic Bab Zuwayla city gate, is Cairo’s last remaining tarboosh artisan shop.  Tarboosh is the word Egyptians use for what people in North America might call a fez.  This shop in the Khan al-Khalili market makes high-quality woolen tarbooshes by hand, in the traditional way. I visited it on April 23, 2018.

The tarboosh was fashionable among Egyptian men during the era of the Ottoman Empire.  Although the Ottoman Empire itself fell in 1920, the Ottoman viceroy in Egypt declared himself king and continued to rule until Egypt’s revolution in 1952.  Since 1952, the tarbooshes have declined in popularity, but the shop continues to generate enough business to continue making them.  They export them to many other Muslim countries such as Morocco and Tunisia.

The hand-operated tools are used to shape the tarbooshes.  Not only does the shop sell the hats, it also reshapes hats which have been crushed or rumpled through wear.

The photo below shows how the hats are shaped.  The shop is equipped with several different sizes of brass molds.  These molds come in pairs, with one being slightly larger than the other.  First the artisan stretches a tarboosh over the smaller mold in the pair, as he is doing in the photo below. Then he presses over it the heated larger mold, so that the woolen fabric is held between the two.

The photo below shows the interior of a tarboosh.  The red felt outer layer is made of wool.  Inside it, the stiffening layer is made from palm.  A lining around the inner edge protects the head from the scratchy texture of the palm.

Our guide had grown up as a boy near this shop.  He told us that he always liked to run past the shop and use his fist to crush the tarbooshes that were on display.  One day, the shop owner caught him, and recognized him, and complained to his father.  His father was very angry, and beat him for it.  However, the next day the mischievous boy did it again!

Today, he laughs as he tells the story.  I don’t think he’s sorry at all!

About My Egypt Travels

For several of my trips to Egypt, I have traveled with Sahra Kent, through her Journey Through Egypt program.  The tarboosh shop is one of the places I have discovered through traveling with her.  I highly recommend the Journey Through Egypt program to anyone who is interested in a cultural perspective of Egypt.

Thunderstorms in Egypt!

Rain is rare in Egypt, because of its location in the Sahara desert.  In my previous visits to Egypt, the “rain” I experienced was similar to what we might call “sprinkling” in my home in the U.S., and it lasted only a short time.  The average rainfall in Cairo for April is 1/4 inch (7 mm) in the entire month.

So, imagine my surprise when we experienced two days of genuine thunderstorms with heavy rain on April 24 and 25, 2018 while I was in Cairo! And then, a week later, a miniature thunderstorm came to Luxor on May 1!

Egypt receives rain so rarely that a major rainfall is a big event.  Here are some of the consequences that happened in Cairo’s 2-day storm:

  • There are no storm drains, so streets quickly became flooded.
  • Cars stalled when the flood waters overwhelmed them.
  • People didn’t know how to drive on the rain-slick roads.
  • Building roofs leaked, because they normally don’t need to be watertight. I was eating supper at Felfela restaurant with rain dripping on my head! But it was okay, because I was enjoying the sound of the storm.
  • Events were canceled due to rain leaking through roofs.  For example, the Balloon Theater canceled a performance by the Kowmiyya dance company one evening due to rain.
  • Parts of Cairo’s Ring Road were shut down for several hours due to flooding. Many people needed to sleep in their cars.
  • The road closure caused traffic snarls throughout Cairo as people tried to find other ways to get home.
  • Some buildings and bridges collapsed.
  • Trains were delayed.

In Luxor, the “thunderstorm” consisted of one flash of lightning and one brief rumble of thunder, followed by some sprinkling.  Therefore, we didn’t have the above problems that come from heavy rain.  However, the locals were so worried about the storm that they insisted that the members of our group who intended to walk somewhere take a bus instead.

I live in a part of the U.S. that experiences frequent thunderstorms, with heavy rains.  My dad used to call these storms “toadstranglers”. Therefore, I have always taken storm drains, culverts, and watertight roofs for granted. It never occurred to me that other places would forego such infrastructure.  It makes sense, of course.  Why would you need to build watertight roofs and storm drains in the Sahara desert?  I can understand why it might be viewed as an unnecessary expense in a place that gets thunderstorms so rarely.

 

Edfu, Egypt: Dance Like an Egyptian!

The stereotype of “Pharaonic dance” with the bent elbow and wrist arm positions is deeply embedded in U.S. culture, and has been since about the 1920’s. Buster Keaton does those arm positions in the 1918 silent movie The Cook which also stars Fatty Arbuckle.

Buster Keaton makes “Egyptian arms” in a dance scene from the 1918 silent movie “The Cook”.

These arm positions have also shown up in cartoons, countless “Pharaonic” dance performances, and the music videos such as the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian”. When Irena Lexova wrote Ancient Egyptian Dances in 1935, her initial objective was to examine whether this stereotype was indeed accurate.

Shira shows the stereotype of “Pharaonic” arms.

For many years, I’ve been looking for evidence showing that “Pharaonic arms” actually were part of dance in ancient Egypt.  On my many trips to Egypt, I have looked for images on temple and tomb walls demonstrating such a pose, without finding any.  I have also dug through books and articles about ancient Egypt.  I’ve discovered many other dance scenes with other postures, but not the right-angled joints.  In her book Ancient Egyptian Dances, Irena Lexova stated her conclusion that this pose came from the Etruscan civilization (in what is now modern-day Italy), not Egypt.

Liturgical Dance
This image at the Temple of Horus in Edfu, Egypt shows the bent wrists and arms that the public thinks of as Pharaonic dance.

So imagine my surprise in February 2017, on my 12th trip to Egypt, when I spotted one at the Temple of Horus in Edfu, Egypt! This was my 7th time visiting that temple. Why didn’t I see this on any of my previous 6 visits?

And once I found it, I discovered it appeared in more than one place.  Here’s a column showing the dancer facing the opposite direction.

This column at the Edfu temple in Egypt shows a priest doing a sacred dance. Photo copyright 2019 by Jewel, all rights reserved.

I asked the Egyptologist who was acting as our tour guide whether this was a “dance” or some other activity. (In Egypt, in order to become a licensed tour guide, an individual must obtain an advanced degree in Egyptology as well as meet some other qualifications.)  He said yes, it was a liturgical dance being performed by a priest. The vertical lines coming down from the hands represent a stream of liquid being poured from the hands.  So, what does this image suggest about the stereotype of the “Pharaonic” wrist and elbow posture?

  1. This dance style is done by men. I have not yet found images of women doing it.
  2. The “Pharaonic” arm position was used for religious ritualistic dance.
  3. This dance was known to Egyptians as of 200 BCE, because construction on the temple building that stands at Edfu today was begun in 237 BCE. I haven’t yet found earlier images of it.
  4. This scene was shown in a temple that was built during the era of the Greek Pharaohs.  This makes me wonder whether this dance position was indigenous to the Egyptians, or whether it was introduced by Greek priests. I guess it’s a question for further research.

When I returned to the Edfu temple in 2019 for my 9th visit to it, I once again saw the images shown in the photos above, but then was astonished to discover there were more such images at this temple!  My guide confirmed that yes, these are also images of sacred dance being performed by priests.  This time, instead of appearing to pour liquid from their hands, they appear to be holding something, perhaps daggers or feathers. How could I have missed these on my first eight visits to this temple?

These dancers appear on the edge of a wall near the entrance to the Edfu temple. Photo copyright 2019 by Jewel, all rights reserved.

I still have never seen this type of arm position anywhere in Egypt other than the Edfu Temple.  I realize it’s possible that it appears elsewhere, but so far I haven’t found it.  I’ll keep looking.

I said for many years that I didn’t believe there was ever a bent wrist-and-elbow dance posture in ancient Egyptian dance because all of my prior research seemed to indicate there was not. It seems I was wrong. It’s time to update my thinking!

 

Cairo’s Mazaher Ensemble: The Zar Musicians

Cairo offers an opportunity for visitors to see Egypt’s remaining vestiges of an East African practice known as a zar ritual.  It is no longer legal in Egypt to conduct zar rituals; however, it is still possible to see performances of the music used for them.

About the Zar Ritual

A zar is a spirit which is believed to inhabit people, especially women. When the woman’s life is in balance, she and the spirit can coexist in peace. However, sometimes the woman begins to suffer stress, become irritable, or fall ill.  In those cases, in order for her to recover, it may be necessary to appease the zar spirit. The purpose of a zar ritual is to perform that appeasement.

In a traditional zar ritual in Egypt, a woman would surround herself with other women who are a meaningful part of her life: sisters, cousins, friends, etc.  They would sacrifice a chicken, and engage a band of musicians capable of performing the specialty music required for the ritual.

According to tradition, there are many different zar spirits which can inhabit a person. Each such spirit responds to a different song and rhythm. The musicians would perform several different songs, aiming to find the music required to appease the particular spirit that has inhabited the woman. As the music progresses, the participants are drawn into a state of ecstatic dance.

The Mazaher Ensemble

The Mazaher ensemble are among the final zar practitioners in Egypt. Although the law no longer allows them to conduct full zar ceremonies, it is possible to hear them perform concerts of the music that accompanies the ceremonies.  I have seen them perform several times at the Makan Theater in Cairo. It is a captivating show, and I always enjoy seeing it again whenever I return to Egypt.

The lead singer, standing in front, is Rayyisah Madiha, often known as Umm Sameh (“mother of Sameh”).

Show Format

The show has varied a bit from one time I’ve seen it to another. The primary segment consists of Cairo zar music, with vocals by Umm Sameh, accompanied by the other women on drums. Another segment I have seen every time is described as a Nubian zar, which features different music and instruments in order to reach the different regional spirits associated with southern Egypt and Sudan.

Other details of the show have varied from one year to the next. For example, when I saw the show in 2016, Sameh performed a solo of Sufi music, but other times when I’ve seen the show he did not do so.

Sameh
Sameh of the Mazaher Ensemble sings and plays a frame drum. February 10, 2016.

Nubian Zar

Nubia is the region spanning southern Egypt and the Sudan.  The Nubian zar uses different instruments from those used for the Cairo-based zar, and the spirits it targets are different.

Tamboura
This photo was taken February 11, 2015.

The tamboura, a type of lyre, is shown in the photo above. It is particularly typical of Nubian music; not only for Nubian zar rituals, but also for secular folk music.

Nubian Zar
I took this photo when watching the show at Makan Theater on February 10, 2016.

For the Nubian section of the show, one of the musicians picks up the tamboura to play it, as shown by the man seated in the back, wearing the white gallabiya.  The belt that the two other men strap around their hips is known as a mangour.

I took this photo of one of the musicians wearing a mangour when watching the show at Makan Theater on February 10, 2016.

The mangour is a percussion instrument constructed from attaching many small goat hooves to a backing of fabric or leather. The men shake their hips in a rhythmic fashion, causing the goat hooves to strike each other, producing a rattling sound.

In the photo below, the men are not only shaking their hips to make noise with the mangour, they are also using handheld rattles.

Nubian Zar
I took this photo when watching the show at Makan Theater on February 10, 2016.

Posing with the Star

When I saw the show in 2016, Madiha graciously agreed to pose for a photo with me after it was over.  It can be difficult to get a photo with her, because of how many people swarm her after the show seeking photos as I did!

This photo was taken February 10, 2016.

About the Makan Theater

The Makan Theater, which hosts the Mazaher Ensemble’s zar music shows, is at 1 Saad Zaghloul St. El Dawaween 11461 Cairo. Their telephone number is +202 2792 0878, and email address is [email protected]. In addition to presenting the Mazaher Ensemble shows, they have also offered other shows of traditional Egyptian music, including Sufi music, Nubian, and more.

To Learn More About Zar

There is a series of three music CD’s that I recommend if you’d like to listen to zar music in your home.  Each of these CD’s comes with a different informative booklet with detailed information about zar traditions. If you search for them online, look for the artist name of Awlad Abou al-Gheit:

  • Zar: Trance Music for Women
  • Zar 2: Tumboura
  • Zar 3: Harim Masri

Also, I recommend the book Trance Dancing with the Jinn: The Ancient Art of Contacting Spirits Through Ecstatic Dance by Yasmin Henkesh.  Yasmin is a meticulous researcher whom I respect highly. 

About My Egypt Travels

For several of my trips to Egypt, I have traveled with Sahra Kent, through her Journey Through Egypt program.  The Makan Theater is one of the places I have discovered through traveling with her.  I highly recommend the Journey Through Egypt program to anyone who is interested in a cultural perspective of Egypt.

Cairo’s El Dammah Theater: Rango Band

In 2016, I went with a group to El Dammah theater in Cairo to see a show featuring top Egyptian-Sudanese musicians playing Nubian music.

About El Dammah

El Dammah is a small black box theater with about 100 seats that features musicians playing authentic traditional music. The organization that operates it is El Mastaba Center for Egyptian Folk Music.

El Dammah presents a show every Thursday night.  There are several different musical acts that it rotates through the lineup.  So far in my trips to Egypt, I have seen 3 different bands there.  One of them was Rango.

El Dammah is located at 30 A El Belaasa St, Abdeen, in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The phone number is +20 115 099 5354, and email address is [email protected].

Rango

The photo at the top of this post shows Hassan Bergamon playing a musical instrument called a rango, which resembles a xylophone.  The small version that was played in this show could be called a kamba. It’s a very traditional instrument from the southern part of Sudan. It nearly died out in the 1970’s, but the art has been kept alive. According to our contact at El Dammah, today there are only 7-8 people left in Africa who still know how to play one.

This photo shows up closeup view of the rango:

The musicians also played additional traditional instruments from Egypt and the Sudan.  Below, one of the men is holding a rattle in each hand, which is known as the shukh-shaykh.

Below, we can see Hassan Bergamon playing another instrument, the simsimiyya. It is a type of lyre, which resembles a larger, similar instrument known as the tamboura.

The angle of the photo above makes it difficult to see what a simsimiyya looks like.  The photo below provides a clearer view. In it, a member of the El Dammah staff holds up two examples of a simsimiyya.

The drummers served a vital role in the show.  They were excellent, and worked very well together with the others as an ensemble. It was truly a memorable performance.

The show opened with a performance of songs while everyone listened, then the musicians started recruiting audience members to get up and dance with them. By the end, the event felt more like a party than it did a music performance, but that was part of what made it such an entertaining evening. The quality of the music was definitely world class!

I’m already looking forward to my next visit to El Dammah, to enjoy whatever music they offer the next time I’m in Cairo!

About My Egypt Travels

For several of my trips to Egypt, I have traveled with Sahra Kent, through her Journey Through Egypt program.  El Dammah Theater is one of the places I have discovered through traveling with her.  I highly recommend the Journey Through Egypt program to anyone who is interested in a cultural perspective of Egypt.

 

Cairo’s Agricultural Museum: The Wedding Scene

The Agriculture Museum in Cairo, Egypt is a treasure that most tourists visiting Egypt have never heard of, and never been to. It resides inside a former palace, so even the architecture is well worth taking a moment to enjoy.  I think maybe the museum opened in the 1950’s, but I could be wrong about that. It’s very kitschy, in a way that I find very appealing! The museum is near the Giza zoo and the Cairo Opera House.

On the ground floor, there is a series of tableaux showing what a rural wedding was like as of the 1950’s. It provides insight into what people wore, and what their customs were surrounding weddings.

Wedding Preparations

Fortuneteller in Agricultural Museum
A fortuneteller casts the stones to view omens for an upcoming wedding.

The above photo shows a fortuneteller casting the stones to view the omens for an upcoming wedding.

In Muslim tradition, weddings do not involve a religious ceremony the way traditional Christian weddings do.  Instead, there is a legal contract, which is signed by the men of the two families with witnesses. The photo below shows the men conducting this business.

While the men of the bride and groom’s families complete the contract transaction, the women of the households prepare for the wedding party that will follow.

The tableau pictured below shows a woman bringing a tray of drinks from the kitchen to serve to the other women as they wait.

As the women wait, one of them goes to the roof to the pigeon hut, to select a pigeon to serve for the meal at the celebration.

The photo below shows a belly dancer and a drummer performing for the bride and the women of her family while they wait for the men to be ready for the procession.  The dancer, of course, is the one with the most vibrant makeup!

A dancer entertains the bride and her family in this tableau of a wedding at the Agricultural Museum.

The Procession

One of the wedding-related exhibits shows the zeffa (bridal procession) in which the people of a village carry a bride in a howda to the wedding party.

The photo below shows the men leading the zeffa, playing musical instruments and doing balancing tricks. Behind them is a camel carrying a large decorated wooden box known as a howda with the bride sitting inside.

Wedding Procession
Performers lead a wedding procession in this tableau at the Agricultural Museum.

This photo shows a closeup of the camel bearing the front part of the bride’s howda.

The next photo shows the bride inside her howda.  This angle of the photo doesn’t show it, but a little boy is inside it with her.  His role would be to leave the howda and fetch anything she needs.

Wedding Procession Bride
In this tableau of a rural Egyptian wedding procession, the bride is carried inside a litter.

I have visited the Agricultural Museum several times, and it’s always fun to see it again.  In addition to the scenes of rural life, the main building also houses many other exhibits, including farm animals, insects, and more.   A separate building is dedicated to exhibits of Syria, referencing a period from 1958 to 1961 when Egypt and Syria banded together to create the United Arab Republic.

About My Egypt Travels

For several of my trips to Egypt, I have traveled with Sahra Kent, through her Journey Through Egypt program.  This Agricultural Museum is one of the places I have discovered through traveling with her.  I highly recommend the Journey Through Egypt program to anyone who is interested in a cultural perspective of Egypt.

Exploring Nilometers in Egypt

A Nilometer (Nile-o-meter) is a structure in Egypt for measuring how high the annual flood of the river Nile rises each year. Before the 20th century, each year the Nile River would flood in the spring, spreading silt across the land it covered.  This inundation brought life to the region, because the silt it deposited enhanced the fertility of the soil.

The government used the Nilometer readings to determine the taxes for that year.  If the flood level was measured as low, then taxes that year would be low, due to reduced rich silt deposits and possible drought. If the flood level was medium, taxes that year would be high, because medium was the ideal level. If flood level was high, there would be no taxes because the flood was destructive and people needed to recover.

In my travels to Egypt, I’ve seen 3 different Nilometers.  There are others that I have not (yet) had the opportunity to see, but perhaps I’ll get to see them on a future trip! I’ve seen reports that as of today there are fewer than 24 known Nilometers which have been found by archaeologists.

Cairo

The Nilometer in Cairo is on Rhoda Island, a short walk from the Oum Kalthoum Museum. If you visit Cairo, it’s worth a trip to the island to visit both.

Photo copyright 2018 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

This Nilometer is one of the oldest structures in Egypt built after the Arab conquest. The original building at this site was erected in 751 CE, though archaeologists believe there was probably an older Nilometer at this site in Pharaonic times.   This initial structure was destroyed by a heavy flood in 861 CE, so the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil commissioned the current building to replace it.

Although the subterranean portion of the ancient building still stands, its dome was destroyed in 1825 by a nearby explosion.  A restoration was created, using a painting by Fredrik Ludvig Nordenas to provide guidance on what the original looked like.

This is the interior of the dome of the Nilometer in Cairo on Rhoda Island, next to the Oum Kalthoum museum. This section was destroyed in 1825 and reconstructed.  Photo was taken from surface level looking up into the cupola on February 9, 2017.

The instrument for measuring the water’s height is an octagonal column divided into cubits located in the middle of the square stone-lined shaft. This photo shows the central shaft, as you look down from the street-level entrance:

Photo copyright 2018 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

Today, the tunnels leading from the Nilometer to the Nile are blocked off, and therefore water no longer comes in.

It is possible to descend a flight of stairs into the shaft. There are no handrails along the stairs, so it requires an adventurous spirit to do it! The interior is beautiful.

Photo copyright 2018 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

Kom Ombo

This Nilometer is located at the temple in Kom Ombo, Egypt, a town that lies between Luxor and Aswan. This is one of the temples that Nile cruises stop at, and it’s a very interesting one to tour because it’s dedicated to TWO gods, Horus the Elder and Sobek.

The Nilometer at Kom Ombo is a deep, cylindrical opening into the ground. At ground level, it doesn’t look like much, just a small circular wall.

Photo copyright 2018 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

It has a tunnel at the bottom that reaches outside the temple walls to allow the flood water to come in.

PHoto copyright 2018 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

Aswan

I have seen this Nilometer near Aswan from a boat on the river, as we floated past Elephantine Island where it resides. I haven’t yet set foot on the island to see its entrance from above. Archaeologists believe it is the oldest Nilometer in Egypt.

For most of ancient Egyptian history, Elephantine Island was the southern border of the Pharaonic kingdom. For that reason, the flood waters would reach this Nilometer first, before flowing downstream to the rest of the kingdom. It provided early insight into what growing conditions the country as a whole could expect.

Photo copyright 2018 by Jewel. All rights reserved.

This Nilometer at Elephantine Island was mentioned in the novel River God, by Wilbur Smith.

Ones I Haven’t Seen

Someday, I hope to see other Nilometers in Egypt. There’s one in the Nile delta at the ancient city Thmuis, which is near the modern city of El Mansoura. Archaeologists estimate it was build in the 3rd century BCE. I learned about this one from a National Geographic article about it.

The beautiful temple of Isis that resided on Philae Island had two Nilometers.  However, in the 1960’s, because of Aswan Dam constructions, about 1/3 of the temple’s buildings became flooded year round. The Philae temple was dismantled and moved to Agilkia Island as part of the UNESCO effort to save temples threatened by the completion of the Aswan High Dam. I don’t know yet whether Philae’s surface-level Nilometer structures were moved and reconstructed when the temple was moved. I have toured Philae about 5 times on my various trips to Egypt, and the guides didn’t point out any Nilometer remnants.  Even if they did, it would be only surface level, without the deep hole down into the ground.  I’ll ask about it the next time I go.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank Wael Mohamed Ali for assisting me with my questions about the Nilometers in the Aswan area.  I’ve appreciated Wael’s services on some of my visits to Upper Egypt as a tour guide and a translator.  He’s very knowledgeable, and a pleasure to do business with!