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

Thursday kicks off the weekend with lots of music to go round. Crash Boom Bang will funk it up at Cairo Jazz Club, while Salalem are faithfully performing in their weekly spot at After Eight. Michelle Rounds continues her four day run of performances at Kempinski Nile’s Jazz Bar.

Classical performances this evening can be found at El Gomhouria Theatre, which welcomes the Abdel Halim Nowera Ensemble for some pure classical Arabic music, and at Cairo Opera House where violinist and pianist, Marlis Yunuskha, will take to the stage.

Add a little culture to evening and head to El Sawy Culturewheel where controversial writer and activist, Alaa El Aswany, will head yet another talk. The Netherlands-Flemish Institute will have Egyptologist Cynthia May Sheikholeslami discussing pomegranate and its link to ancient Egyptian love songs in her lecture, ‘Giving a Fig for Love: Papyrus Turin 1966’.

Come Friday, DJ Aroussi and DJ Ouzo leave their residency in Sharm and take over Cairo Jazz Club for some full throttle house and techno tracks. O Bar is keeping it cool with an R&B Night featuring hip hop masters, DJ Feedo and DJ Hook.

Choose to wind down instead and head to Sufi for a night of simsimeya and damma music with El Tanboura, or make your way to Darb 1718 for Lel Samar Project. Made up of vocalist Dida Guigan and electronic music specialist Marcel Saegesser, their performance will be a mix of traditional Arabic music and classical jazz. 100 Copies Music Space are also offering a unique performance with Dirar Kalash mixing audio, images and videos, along with a saxophone and electronic improvisation.

If you’re an early riser, why not check out the Chocolate War Festival at Lycée El Horreya in Maadi – it sure sounds interesting. Perhaps the Colour Festival at the Pharaonic Village tickles your fancy, with DJs and paint chucking – how could it not?

Get a head start on your Christmas shopping at Saffron’s Christmas Bazaar – with Santa paying a visit, the kids will love it. Speaking of the little ones, ‘The Dinosaur Play’ is taking over town and will have a performance at both En Vogue and Bikya Maadi.

Cairo Opera House has an impressive line up this evening with a concert by Omar Khairat in the Main Hall, while a live screening of ‘Aida’ will be beamed straight from the Met in New York City to the Small Hall.

100Copies Music Space are living it up this Saturday with the experimental duo Kamilya Jurban and Werner Hasler due to impress the crowds with their combination of vocals and trumpet playing.

Cairo Opera House takes part in the festive season with its annual Christmas Gala Concert taking place this evening, as will Fairmont Nile City with its Christmas Tree Lighting Event – take your little ones to meet Santa while you enjoy music by Ahmed Harfoush.

‘The Dinosaur Play’ continues over the weekend, with shows happening at both Fun Yard nursery and Samia Allouba studio.

There’s always time for art, so why not take advantage of your free time and check out Marwa Adel’s exhibition, ‘The Journey’ at Safar Khan, or for a more eclectic viewing, you can always go to Al Kahila Art Gallery for the Group Exhibition that features both painters and sculptors.

Of course, this weekend is significantly more important than others with the elections on the constitution taking place, so if you’re eligible and you value personal freedoms, let your voice be heard and vote ‘NO’.