WOMAD

El Tanbura

From Egypt

Musical elders with the soundtrack of a revolution

El Tanbura might be the custodians of their hometown's generations-old musical styles, but you can't accuse them of artificially trapping an increasingly irrelevant tradition in amber. This senior brotherhood of musicians from Port Said are not remotely concerned about being museum curators. The events at the start of the year proved just that when the band took their music into Cairo's Tahir Square, providing a soundtrack to the daily protests to dislodge President Mubarek from power. While Charlton Park can't quite offer El Tanbura the size of audience they encountered in Tahrir Square, here is the opportunity to commune with a style of music charged with renewed relevancy. They're the guardians of the simsimiyya, an ancient lyre at least a couple of millennia old. This is the music of the people, a cultural expression not imposed from above. And, this year in particular, it's both a revolutionary and celebratory sound.
(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2011)

El Tanbura With Hindi Zahra