Almost every wednesday a group of singers and performers gather for a Zar at a small club called in Cairo. The group was formed as an attempt to save the dying ritual.

Zār or Zaar (زار) is a pagan religious custom, apparently originating in central Ethiopia during the eighteenth century, later spreading throughout East and North Africa.

Zār custom involves the possession of an individual (usually female) by a spirit. It is practiced in Egypt, Sudan, and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The Zār cult served as a refuge for women and effeminate men in conservative, Muslim-dominated Sudan.