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

Hello, Cairo!

Another busy weekend awaits across the capital, with one of the year’s biggest music festivals set to begin, with plenty of other top events taking place, too.

The festival we speak of is, of course, Cairo Jazz Festival, which sees its Thursday kick-off host a number of musical acts at the Greek Campus, including acclaimed Lebanese singer, Rima Khcheich, and the Riff Band. Meanwhile, as part of the festival’s Beyond Stage program, the Nour Project will perform at Cairo Jazz Club on a night that will also see Moroccan band, Bob Maghrib, take to the stage.

Elsewhere, one of the biggest parties of the weekend is set to take place in Zamalek at Le Pacha 1901’s Ontop, where travelling electronic music festival, Theater of Dreams, hosts a special event that will see Argentinean DJ, Hernan Cattaneo, head a line-up that also includes local DJs, Baher and Aguizi & Fahim.

There’s more music of the electronic kind over in Downtown, meanwhile, with Besworx label mates, Gaser and Hassan Abou Alam, provide the music at Zigzag. Elsewhere, DJ Aly B, is manning the decks at Maadi bar, the Tap.

From music to magic; Canadian illusionist, Darcy Oake, continues a five-day  string of performances at Cairo Festival City, while on another very different note, annual furniture expo, Le Marché, takes over Cairo International Convention Centre for the first of its four-day run.

Cairo Jazz Festival continues on Friday with Iraqi oudist, Naseer Shamma, taking to the stage for a special collaborative performance with unique 24-piece band, Blood Sweat Drum + Bass, as well as another on-stage collaboration between the Akram El Sharwkawy Group and Czech saxophonist, Stepan Markovic.

Here for the festival, the Elisa Rodgrigues Quartet are set to provide some live entertainment at a special edition of InterContinental Semiramis’ weekly brunch, while food and music at Eat & Barrel can also be found at the Nile-side venue’s Eat to the Beat, which welcomes Pach Sharm resident, DJ Ouzo, who will also be in action at Cairo Jazz Club later in the evening with Sebzz also playing his trademark tech house sets.

Saturday is a considerabely quieter day, with highlight events coming at the Tap, where Shady Ahmed ends the weekend with an acoustic set, and Cairo Jazz Club, as the Beyond Stage program continues with local band, Raindogs, and Austrian musician, Norbert Schneider, while at the other end of the spectrum, Fairmont Nile City’s Bab El Nil rounds of its weekend with the talents of belly-dancer, Soraya.

There’s new art to be found at the city galleries, meanwhile, with Zamalek Art Gallery hosting a Mohie El Din Hussein Retrospective and Al Kahila Art Gallery hosting Bronze Vatrina by Egyptian artist, Ramadan Abdel Moatamed.

This is just a snapshot of the events across the city this weekend – check out the Cairo 360 events calendar for more.