Early in 2011 the band participated in the Egyptian revolution, campaigning for social, political and cultural reform in Egypt and performing for the protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Following the Revolution El Tanbura performed at WOMAD Abu Dhabi and returned to London in a show curated for the Barbican featuring the band alongside fellow musical revolutionaries Azza Balba, Mustafa Said and Ramy Essam. The band won the Roskilde Festival World Music Award for Zakaria's El Mastaba Centre for Egyptian Popular Music at WOMEX 2011 in Copenhagen.