Shake it! Infuse new life into your music and ritual into your daily life with the 21st-century sistrum known as the Ceremonial Systrum™ inspired by ancient Egyptian sistrum.
Inspired by ancient percussion, infusing new life into your music, you want the Ceremonial Systrum™ in your home, classroom, music studio….in your hand!
If you can flicker your wrist, you can shimmer the systrum. It is a simple, effective, easy-to-play tool you can use to relieve life’s daily stress.
This is the ORIGINAL uniquely designed Ceremonial Systrum™. A robust instrument, standing 16″ high, this beautiful instrument is handcrafted from red cedar with nickel silver jingles strung on rods deliberately snake-shaped in keeping with its historical aspects.
An objet d’art it also has artistic merit. Proudly display this sistrum in your home, classroom, studio or workplace for decorative purpose.
This sistrum looks authentic and has a rich volume of sound.
Glen Velez, Master Percussionist and Composer; Founding Father, Modern Frame Drum Movement*
MORE: The systrum aka sistrum was a sacred instrument in the Goddess Tradition of Ancient Egypt. A percussion instrument with metal cymbals that slide on transverse bars creating a shimmering jingle when shaken, it was a predecessor to the tambourine. This handheld percussion instrument, primarily played by women, was used as a sacred implement in ceremonial ritual and together with melodic instruments and the frame drum, it was also used as part of festive community processions.
Tahya designed a 21st C rendition of this instrument, guides a discovery of its relevance in Ancient Egypt and suggests how it can be used as a sacred instrument and/or ritual implement today by those of us remembering the Goddess and ancient ceremonies and re-imagining scenes as depicted in bas reliefs on the walls of ancient temples throughout the landscape of Egypt.
The first “awareness” of this handheld percussion instrument primarily played by women in ceremonial ritual and festive community processions occurred when reading Layne Redmond‘s book When the Women Were Drummers (p. 102), piquing a curiosity to see the depictions Layne described of scenes at the temple dedicated to the Egyptian Goddess Hathor in Dendera, Egypt, and then following a trip to Egypt in 2007, Tahya was all the more intrigued seeing those depictions for herself and upon returning home found herself inspired to add a sistrum to her personal collection of percussion instruments played for personal and community ceremony as well as public performances. Alas, at that time there was nothing on the market which remotely resembled those seen engraved on the temple walls. After that initial search with a shrug of the shoulder, she thought “What it a darn shame I could not find what I was looking for. Harumph!”
Approximately two-three weeks later, she was startled awake from a deep sleep… Do you know that predawn feeling? Awake… and yet still feeling half asleep in a time between night and dawn. Somewhere between conscious, unconscious and suBCEonscious, there was a sense a “knowing” of what was intended. It felt like a true wake-up call. She answered this “call” beckoning her to re-emerge the percussion instrument associated with the Goddess Hathor, a prominent deity of ancient Egyptian cosmology. Read more.
*Click here to see image of Glen demonstrating Systrum at Masterclass in Bethlehem, PA ~ March 2019
After diligently working to manifest the Ceremonial Systrum™ in the 21st Century, the vision was realized, a manufacturer secured and in addition to this instrument now being available to you, Tahya is poised to present a rich and magnificent story (a slideshow, lecture & demonstration) of its use by queens and musician priestesses in antiquity while inviting you to envision its sublime and splendid future.
• Click here for answers to frequently asked questions.
• Click here to see the lovely things people are saying upon receiving their Systrum!
• Read Rediscovering the Sistrum article penned by Tahya, Percussive Arts Society’s journal Percussive Notes, July 2018
• Listen to a lovely sampling of the Systrum incorporated into this August 2018 History of Egypt podcast:
Order Your Systrum Now!
Inspired by ancient percussion,
infusing new life into your music,
you definitely want a Ceremonial Systrum™
in your home, classroom, music studio….
in your hand!