El Tanbura is an Egyptian band, formed in the 1980's by Zakaria Ibrahim, the organizer. Its performances are based on traditional Egyptian music, featuring the simsimiyya and tanbura instruments.
In 1989, a small nucleus of veteran performers recruited by Zakaria came together to form the fledgling El Tanbura group, augmented by younger singers. In the formative years, El Rayis Imbabi, one of the group members, was responsible for passing key repertoire from Port Said's past to the younger members.
The Simsimiyya is a five-stringed instrument of the lyre family. Originally, the body was made of wood in a bowl/box shape, covered with stretched goat or camel skin. The strings, once various intestinal parts, are now made of wire. The Tanbura is a large six-string lyre. It was often used in private healing ceremonies during the 19th century following the Egyptian conquest of Sudan.
The Tanbura is very similar to the Simsimiyya. However, compared to the Simsimiyya, the strings of the Tanbura are softer and it has the addition of tuning pegs which can expand melodic range and nylon replacing dried animal gut strings, allowing for more refined tuning and intricate performances.
Their second album, Between the Desert and the Sea, was named by Songlines Magazine as one of the all-time Top 50 world music albums.
1 Waziery
2 I Saw The Moon
3 My Heart Was Burnt by Love
4 Sar a Lay
5 Zayy el Nhardah (The Canal Song)
6 Between the Desert and the Sea
7 One Day We Blamed Each Other
8 Dundarawi
9 Shoft Toshy
10 Salah
11 Gamel Weno
Between The Desert And The Sea