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

Christmas is just a few days away, but that hasn’t stopped Cairo’s venues from kicking off the celebrations early. But fear not Grinches – if you’re looking to side-step the festivities altogether, the city has also thrown up some non-Christmas events, too.

Cairo Jazz Club’s huge Christmas program kicks off on Thursday with the bar’s annual charity event with proceeds from the night set to go to charity and local bands, Bluzophrenia and The Cadillacs set to perform.

 

There’s more Christmas spirit, but of a very different kind, over at Cairo Opera House, where the Cairo Opera Company will be performing festive songs, as well as Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Telephone.

Away from Christmas altogether, House Night at Zigzag welcomes Bash and Omar Sabh, DJ Anis is the man in charge of the music at The Tap East for a night of ‘Guilty Pleasures’, while over at The Tap Maadi, the fiery duo of Akladios and kidmims; takes centre stage and unique band, Do’souka, are live at ROOM Art Space in Garden City.

Hip-hop fans, meanwhile, needn’t look further than Nineteen Twenty Five, which is set host Homies – a night headlined by the UK’s DJ Flash.

Christmas resumes early on Friday, with Back 2 Basics marking the festive season with Winter Magic and the help of Spanish DJ, Uner, while Cairo Jazz Club continues where it left off with their second Christmas-tinted night and the return of progressive house DJ, Mohasseb.

DJ Uner is set to headline Back 2 Basics’ ‘Winter Magic on Friday

After a musical brunch with Adham Roshdy and Sherif Watson performing, The Tap East welcomes dynamic duo, Misty & Hafez, while sister venue, The Tap Maadi, has live music in the form of Beatles cover band, Glass Onion.

Club Night at Zigzag, meanwhile, sees Baher and Gaser take to the decks, while Samer George and Amy Frega, aka Voice & Bass, perform at 3elbt Alwan.

Sick of Christmas yet? Good, because there’s more on Saturday, starting once again at Cairo Jazz Club, where things take a turn for the sha3bi, courtesy of Islam Chipsy and Sweasy. Elsewhere, Riverside is offering up a great evening with Massar Egabri and Disco Misr providing the music, while The Tap East ends the weekend with hip-hop courtesy of Man-O and Graffiti has a ‘Frosted Christmas’.

Saturday is also a bust day at Cairo Opera House, with the National Arab Music Ensemble, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and the Cairo Opera Children’s Choir all performing separate gigs.

On Christmas Day itself, (Sunday), one of the biggest events is taking place at The Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski, where Magic Mistletoe welcomes Amr Diab, while over at Gu Bar, Abdel Baset Hamouda and Bahaa Sultan, are among the performers at Christmas Bel 3araby. 

Have a great weekend!