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

For many Cairenes, today marks the beginning of a long and
languid Easter/Sham El Nessim weekend holiday. If you’re heading out of Cairo
and still don’t know where you’ll be holidaying, fret not; our Easter/Sham El
Nessim Guide has all the info on hotel rates, camp numbers, trip packages and
much more.

If you’re staying in Cairo, it’s going to be another busy
weekend full of fun shows, concerts and music festivals!

This Thursday, you have so much to choose from: Cairo Opera
House presents the last night of The Best of Broadway, a medley of hit songs from
over 25 hit Broadway musicals such as Grease, Saturday Night Fever and
Cats. Over at the French Cultural Centre
in Mounira, the festive musical mood continues with Club Cheval: Myd vs.
Canblaster, a face-off between two stellar French DJs. If you’ve been to the
French Cultural Centre’s parties, you know that this one should not be missed.

Thursday also marks the second day of Sakia’s First Metal
Festival at El Sawy Culturewheel, featuring Your Prince Harming, Enraged, Karma
and Destiny in Chains. For more live music, you can choose between Skin Deep’s
funk and dance floor hits at Cairo Jazz Club or Sa7ra’s reggae fusion at After
Eight, or even Bedouin Jerry Can at El Tanboura Hall.

The more classically inclined of you should check out Konouz
Arab Music Ensemble at Cairo Opera House’s open-air theatre, or the Sebo
Folkloric Music Ensemble at El Gomhouria Theatre.

For something completely different, Ahmed Nabil will perform a pantomime show
titled ‘A Diplomat Acting Diplomatically’ at Cairo Opera House. Come on, when was
the last time you watched a pantomime show? This should be refreshingly fun!

Also equally interesting is a lecture by Dr. Tarek El Awady,
director of the Egyptian Museum, at the Ministry of Antiquities. It should be
interesting to hear what he has to say given the museum’s controversial role in
the Tahrir demonstrations.

In Zamalek, author Mohamed Baraka will sign
copies of his novel Christian Muslim Dot
Com at Diwan Bookstore, while the Goethe Institute presents ‘Notes Towards Documenta’ a lecture and launch of the ‘One Hundred Notes, One Hundred Thoughts’ project.

Friday marks the launch of El Genaina Theatre’s Summer 2011
Festival. This year’s festival theme is ‘music, freedom and social justice’ and
aims at celebrating the revolution in Egypt and the Arab region. The festival’s
acts include Tahrir singer Ramy Essam, Mariam and Abou, Taxi and Eskenderella.
Admission is free of charge.

Speaking of festivals, Sakia’s First Metal Festival
continues with performances by Skulltakers, Ethereal Credence and Medic at El
Sawy Culturewheel.

Music-wise, Club Cheval Myd vs. Canblaster moves its night
of music and dancing to Cairo Jazz Club at 11PM; so wear comfortable shoes
because they will definitely make you move. The Best of Broadway continues at
Cairo Opera House, which will also host a benefit concert at the open-air theatre for the victims of
Japan’s earthquake. Salalem will perform live at After Eight, while the
National Arab Music Ensemble will perform at El Gomhouria Theatre.

On Saturday, enjoy a night of Gypsy King songs courtesy of
Fuego at After Eight, while Belal El Sheikh will perform Sahr El Sharq, a
concert of Arabic music at El Sawy Culturewheel.

It’s the second day of El
Genaina Theatre’s Summer 2011 Festival, featuring performances by Gnawa musicians Hamid
El Kasri from Morocco and Karim Ziad from Algeria. Admission costs 10LE
excluding admission to Al Azhar Park.

For a little art inspiration, check out Shayma Aziz’s
exhibition ‘Floating Over the Cairene Sky’ at Artellewa in Heliopolis. The artist
produced a series of drawings made over digitally printed Google Earth images
of Cairo, using spare lines to depict lovers’ bodies floating over the city.

Also worth checking out is ‘Thirty Hosnis’ an exhibition by Ali Ali at Articulate Baboon Gallery. ‘At a time when images of Hosni Mubarak are being taken down all over the
country, there has never been a better time to put them up,’ writes the artist. Very true.

There you have it, Cairo! Happy Weekend and Happy Easter/Sham El Nessim!