Album: Rango, Bride of the Zar (30IPS)

A zar is a healing ceremony, traditionally practised by women in Egypt; in neighbouring Sudan, it's been officially proscribed because the tanbura is seen as socially subversive.

Rango denotes the nine-member collective supporting Hassan Bergamon, the sole surviving player of this instrument, which he learnt to play clandestinely, gradually developing the repertoire we hear here. The songs all follow a call-and-response structure, and the music is rough hewn, but the atmosphere is irresistibly cheerful.