Finger cymbals (zils)

Zills or zils (from the Turkish zil, 'cymbals'), also called finger cymbals, are small metal cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. In Egypt they are called sagat (صاجات). They are similar to the Tibetan tingsha. In Western music, several pairs set in a frame make a tambourine.

Finger cymbals belong to the family of clappers: instruments of wood, bone, metal or other materials that are struck against each other. Clappers come in pairs and are held in the hands, tied together or fixed to the fingers. The family also includes spoons, bones and castanets.

One of the earliest clappers is the wooden krotala, already found in Greece around 500 BC. Ancient Greek vases show men and women celebrating at Dionysian festivals, some playing krotala. The ancient Greeks also used metal cymbals, but they held one in each hand and clapped them together. Finger cymbals appear in Roman times: mosaics and reliefs showing Roman finger-cymbal players, found in Bulgaria, Italy and Belgium, date from the 2nd to the 4th century AD. It is not known whether the practice continued or was forgotten and later reinvented in the Middle East, but the tradition of dancers with clappers clearly continued through the Middle Ages. The first images of 'modern' finger-cymbal players in Egypt and Turkey date from the 18th century at the latest.

Zills are one of the main percussion elements of Middle Eastern belly dancing, especially among the Ghawazi, a line of hereditary dancers. They are also important in some Egyptian rituals and in Sufi religious music. They are used in the zar, a healing ritual of rhythmic songs and dances meant to calm the jinn, spirits with magical powers: the dancers use the zills to find a rhythm that soothes the spirits, which the ensemble then takes up.