El Mastaba Center

El Mastaba Center for Egyptian Folk Music was founded in 2000 by Zakaria Ibrahim to revive Egypt’s rich and outstanding musical heritage. The center is unique in its efforts to reintroduce folk music in its original communities and to revitalize its role in the daily life and imagination of the Egyptian people.

El Mastaba has adopted a systematic approach to create a network and a new generation of talented Egyptian folk musicians that includes the organization of seminars and workshops, as well as performances for outstanding bands from all over Egypt. Moreover, the center strongly believes in the role of documentation in the protection, revival and development of the traditional music.

El Mastaba Center manages a network of traditional musicians from diverse traditions in Egypt, including Bedouin, Sufi, Nubian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Sudanese and the Canal Zone a total of 12 diverse traditional music band.