{"id":120109,"date":"2025-11-11T10:12:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T09:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cini.it\/?post_type=cini_events&p=120109"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:11:09","slug":"sguardi-musicali","status":"publish","type":"cini_events","link":"https:\/\/www.cini.it\/en\/eventi\/sguardi-musicali\/","title":{"rendered":"Sguardi Musicali"},"content":{"rendered":"

The event is part of a broader initiative called <\/span>Sguardi Musicali: audiovisual ethnomusicology projects<\/span><\/i>, launched in 2018 by the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies of the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice with the aim of promoting training and support for production in the field of audiovisual ethnomusicology.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year’s edition includes a meeting to reflect on experiences of ethnographic fieldwork and the screening of audiovisual documentation resulting from the research carried out, with the presence of directors, researchers and curators of the exhibition, followed by the premiere screening of the film made by Kawkab Tawfik with the support of the Diego Carpitella Scholarship (2024-2025). The presentations will explore the cultures and ritual traditions of North-East Africa and the Middle East, with particular reference to the possession cult known as <\/span>z\u0101r<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event is organised in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and CFZ \u2013 Cultural Flow Zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
Programme | h 14:00 \u2014 18:00\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"plus\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Folk Life in Upper Egypt<\/p>\n

<\/b>by Giovanni Canova (1978\u20131982) | Super 8 film, 35 min<\/p>\n

<\/span>former Professor at the University of Naples \u201cL\u2019Orientale\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a rare ethnographic documentary that offers a vivid portrait of everyday traditions in Southern Egypt at the end of the 1970s. Filmed over several years by Giovanni Canova, the work portrays the rhythms of rural life in Upper Egypt through authentic examples of work songs, domestic songs, traditional music and dances. The camera follows farmers in the fields, women in their homes and communities gathered for celebrations, revealing the deep connections between song, work and popular religiosity. Viewers have the opportunity to observe local folklore and religious celebrations up close, where music becomes both a social bond and a spiritual expression. The film has no subtitles, allowing viewers to focus on the images.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Ethnographic documentation of male dhikr jahr\u012b in Andijan, Uzbekistan<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Giovanni De Zorzi (2003) | SD video, 5 min<\/p>\n

Ca’ Foscari University of Venice<\/p>\n

Dhikr jahr\u012b session held on the night of 22 May 2003 in Andijan (Uzbekistan) in the private residence of Shaykh Adil Khan Q\u0101ri. The circle (halqah) of dervishes practises various types of vocal dhikr (jahr\u012b), which can serve as a refrain to poetry on spiritual subjects and, in some phases, as a support for collective physical movements (raqs).<\/p>\n

–<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ethnographic documentation of female zikri in Harar, Ethiopia<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Simone Tarsitani (2003) | SD video, 5 min<\/p>\n

Durham University, UK<\/p>\n

Ziy\u0101rah (pilgrimage) to the branch of the Qurrabe Limay shrine on the night of 10 February 2003. A group of women sing and dance zikri, in parallel with a mawl\u016bd ritual (celebrated by men only) on the occasion of the Arafa festival in Harar, Ethiopia. At two points in the video, it is possible to observe the altered state of consciousness of one of the participants in the dance.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Mingis: a Somali possession cult<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Francesco Giannattasio (1982) | Super 8 film, 16 min<\/p>\n

former Professor at the University of Rome \u2018Sapienza\u2019<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

This film was made using audiovisual documentation collected on 11 and 18 March 1982 as part of a research project in the then Somali Democratic Republic, funded by the Institute of Psychology of the National Research Council and conducted by Raffaello Misiti, Francesco Antinucci, Alberto Antoniotto, Piero Coppo and Giannattasio himself. The video presents the highlights of a ritual, explained by Jama Valedi in an interview by Piero Coppo. Jama Valedi is one of the officiants in Somalia who preside over the cult of possession called mingis, a variant of z\u0101r (in Somali saar) practised in various regions of Muslim and Christian East Africa. The practices of the cult induce states of trance accompanied by music and dancing, with the aim of healing illnesses believed to be caused by possession by spirits known as mingis.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ethnographic documentation of z\u0101r<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Giovanni Canova (1978) | audio and photographs, 5 min<\/p>\n

former Professor at the University of Naples \u201cL’Orientale\u201d<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

The photographs document a z\u0101r session in Luxor on 24 May 1978, led by al-Sayyidah al-Nubiyyah, with an elderly woman who chanted accompanied by a t\u0101r (large frame drum), while two other women accompanied her with a du\u1e25ullah (terracotta tubular drum) and a riqq (tambourine with jingles). The audio recordings document a subsequent z\u0101r session organised in a private home.<\/p>\n

–<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

PREMIERE<\/p>\n

Disappearing Z\u0101r: Sal\u012blah the Spirit of the Water<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Kawkab Tawfik (Diego Carpitella Fellow, 2025) 60 min<\/p>\n

Institut Fran\u00e7ais d\u2019Arch\u00e9ologie Orientale du Caire (IFAO)<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Rooted in the ancient traditions of North-East Africa, z\u0101r is a ritual of spiritual possession and dance therapy that has long served as a tool for healing and emotional liberation. In Egypt, however, over the last fifty years this practice has been increasingly stigmatised and repressed, pushing the communities that practise it to the margins of society and threatening the very survival of the ritual.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Through a combination of intimate interviews and archival footage, the film presents the essential characteristics of z\u0101r, while exploring themes of social and gender marginalisation within this disappearing spiritual world.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

At the centre of the narrative is Sam\u0101\u1e25, a woman oppressed by the burden of possession. Tormented by persistent voices and visions, she turns to a k\u016bdya, a z\u0101r priestess, who prescribes a ritual dedicated to Sal\u012blah, the spirit of the waters. Sam\u0101\u1e25’s mother, a follower of the z\u0101r, was also possessed by Sal\u012blah and celebrated annual ceremonies to appease the spirit’s wrath, until one day she mysteriously drowned with five relatives in the Nile. Since then, Sam\u0101\u1e25 has never found the courage to celebrate another z\u0101r. Now, as the possession grows stronger and begins to afflict her two daughters, she seeks help from Mu\u1e25ammad, one of the last z\u0101r musicians still performing within rituals in Egypt. Convinced that there is no time to wait, Mu\u1e25ammad insists that the ceremony must take place on the waters of the Nile.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

As preparations proceed \u2013 amid the lively markets of B\u0101b Zuw\u0101lah, the gathering of sacred objects and the selection of animals for sacrifice \u2013 the film follows the community’s journey towards the ritual. On the river, to the hypnotic rhythm of the Sal\u012blah chants, Sam\u0101\u1e25 begins to dance: the dance of possession, a trance that once again connects her to the spirit and legacy of the generations of women who came before her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Free admission until full capacity is reached.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119912,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"cini_tax_event_categories":[1891],"cini_tax_institutes":[1435],"cini_tax_event_locations":[],"class_list":["post-120109","cini_events","type-cini_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cini_tax_event_categories-eventi-en","cini_tax_institutes-institute-of-comparative-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSguardi Musicali - Fondazione Giorgio Cini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cini.it\/en\/eventi\/sguardi-musicali\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sguardi Musicali - Fondazione Giorgio Cini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The event is part of a broader initiative called Sguardi Musicali: audiovisual ethnomusicology projects, launched in 2018 by the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies of the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice with the aim of promoting training and support for production in the field of audiovisual ethnomusicology. 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