Under the direction of Zakaria Ibrahim, "El Tanbura" was established in 1989. Based in Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Canal, the troupe is ideally placed to influence positively the status of popular art and its performers in its home area. Although only seven participate in this festival, at home the troupe has expanded to 20 members ranging between 25 and 75 years of age, and every member of them is a singer, dancer and player of an instrument at the same time. The instruments in use of the group are: simsimiyya (a small lyre), tanbura (a big lyre), ney (Arabic flute), tabla (Arabic drum), triangle, sagat (small cymbals), shakhalil (a kind of castanets) and riq (a kind of tambourine).

The troupe has recruited the remaining few masters of the tradition, and its repertoire of over twenty hours of songs represents an important link in the transmission of cultural heritage. El Tanbura performs widely throughout urban and rural Egypt in a variety of venues ranging from concert halls to youth clubs to tents and streets. The troupe has performed to enthusiastic audiences in France 1996 (where the "Institute du Monde Arabe" in Paris produced a CD in 1998), Jordan 1997, Italy 1997, Canada (where they received the first prize at the "International Folk Music Festival" in Montreal, June 2000), France 2001, Sweden 2001, France (Paris and Montpellier at the festival "Spring of Artist") 2002, London (the festival of "Diaspora" organized by "Music Village") 2002 and Mali 2002 and in 2003 they presented eight concerts in Switzerland and three shows in Lebanon at the Beirut Street Festival. El Mastaba Center for Egyptian Folk Music, established by Zakaria Ibrahim in 2000, produced 2 albums, "Noh Elhamam" (2002) and "Ahwa Qamar" (2004). Their most recent album "Between the Desert and the Sea" (World Village, 2006) has been receiving enthusiastic reviews in all the world music media.

More info: www.eltanbura.com