The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Hello, Cairo!

We’ve got a busy weekend ahead so let’s forgo the usual small-talk about how cold it is, et al, and five straight in to what is looking like a good few days to be out and about in Egypt’s capital.

We begin with Thursday – because it comes before Friday and Saturday – at Cairo International Convention Centre, where the 2016 edition of the Cairo International Book Fair is well underway, housing thousands and thousands of books looking for a shelf to call home.

Later in the evening, electronic music fans have a treat in store for them at Zigzag, as the Downtown bar welcomes David Mayer on a night that will also see Cairo’s Aly B take to the decks. Elsewhere, the Temple Club Series hosts Spanish techno DJ, Edu Imbernon, and Cairo’s Misty at another big night for electronic music fans, while Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah’s Le Duplex kicks off the weekend with Justa Panda, Akladios and kidmims; and the Tap’s weekly Backstep welcomes DJ Nakhla.

Elsewhere, DJ Tony is the man in charge of the music at the Garden’s Motion and Cairo Jazz Club welcome back Alexandria natives, Massar Egbari, for a night of live music, while Beatles tribute band, Glass Onion, debut at Maadi’s newest bar, Cheers.

There’s more live music over at Garden City, meanwhile, where Los Compadres bring their Latin jazz sounds to ROOM Art Space.

Friday is just as busy, with Nacelle hosting another edition of day-party-come-mini-festival, Funk N Pop, at Royal Club Mohamed-Aly, Eat & Barrel’s weekly day party, Eat to the Beat, this week featuring hip-hop DJ, Feedo, and Korba bar, the Garden, Sweet & Sour, welcoming day-revellers and DJ Mary Melody.

On a very different note, Smart Village is the set to be the scene for Global Game Jam 2016 – a three-day hackathon based on game development.

The evening’s entertainment, meanwhile, has a nice variety about it with Ahmed Harfoush covering Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble at Le Duplex, Zigzag welcoming Gawdat and Ouzo to the DJ booth and rock, blues and funk band, Vybe, returning to the Tap.

At Cairo Jazz Club, meanwhile, DJ Nu El Sherif is set to show why she is quickly becoming one of the most popular DJs along the Red Sea, on a night that will also see Sebzz and Baher close the night with back-to-back sets.

Elsewhere, this week’s edition of Riverdeep sees DJ Donia take to the decks at Zamalek’s Riverside and DJ Nenio returns to Gu Bar for WKND, while at the other end of the musical scale, the legend that is Omar Khairat performs at MUST Opera House in 6th October City and ROOM Art Space hosts one of the most unique musicians in Egypt today, Eslam El Sha'ary.

Things fizzle out to a nice calm end to the weekend on Saturday, meanwhile, with live music on the agenda; Wust El Balad perform at Cairo Jazz Club and Tamer Emad, aka the Guvna, is grabbing his guitar and taking to the stage at the Tap. Elsewhere, Downtown bistro, Eish & Malh, invites one and all to enjoy dinner to the backdrop of live blues courtesy of Abdallah Magdy & Ahmed Samy, while things are set to get considerably more rambunctious at Zamalek’s Gu Bar, who welcome Abdel Basat Hamouda and Sally Khalil for Heshek Beshek. How good a word is rambunctious by the way?

These are, of course, just a few of the events awaiting you across Cairo – check out the Cairo 360 events calendar for more. #Rambunctious.