- artist:El Tanbura
- release year:2009
- style(s):Folk, Sufi
- country:Egypt
- formats:CD (Compact Disc)
- record posted by:30 iPS
- label:30 iPS
- publisher:30 iPS
Acclaimed veteran Egyptian musicians, singers, fishermen and philosophers El Tanbura celebrate their 20th anniversary with Friends of Bamboute, the long-awaited follow up to 2006’s Between the Desert and the Sea.
Recorded in Cairo and Port Said, the new album recounts both tales of the 19th century Bambutiyya merchants who frequented the old-time cafes and hashish dens along the path of Suez Canal, and devotional Sufi songs from the Egyptian Delta.
Custodians to some of Egypt’s oldest folk melodies at their home in Port Said, El Tanbura’s music is driven by the seductive call of the Simsimiyya - an ancient five-string lyre dating back to the times of the greatest Pharaohs, which according to legend, is said to enchant those who hear her strings.