the clanging of the zils

oh, one thing i forgot to mention about the classic… (and thanks to lucy for reminding me)

what’s up with the dissonant, clangy, brutal sounding chunks-of-metal zils?

i know there’s the whole “bellydancer in a box kit” that’s making the rounds, but so many of the performers that used zils had zils that just sounded horrible (to me). i know these people spent fortunes on their costumes, so what’s going on here?