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

We know we say this every week, but this time we really, really mean it – yes Cairo, we have a busy weekend ahead, with gigs, parties, festivals, exhibitions and more packing the calendar for the next couple of days.

One of the biggest St. Patrick’s Day events this fine Thursday evening takes place at Cheers. Having kicked off the celebrations on Wednesday, Jameson Irish Whiskey returns to the Maadi bar for a night of music, specially made Jameson cocktails and plenty of other surprises.

Elsewhere, Cairo Jazz Club hosts a huge line-up of its own for Where’s My Leprechaun, as Malak El Husseiny, Funk OFF, Minus T and Omar El Sabh take to the stage.

Away from St. Paddy, there’s plenty of live music across the city, with one of the biggest gigs seeing HOH perform at Uptown Cairo, Elsewhere, the talented Hany Must takes to the stage at Zamalek’s 3elbt Alwan in the wake of a new single release, while Salalem kick-off the weekend at Downtown’s After Eight and the unique Maktoob return to Garden City’s ROOM Art Space.

Electronic music fans can get their fix, meanwhile, at the Garden – Nile Front, where DJ Fedde is the man charged with the music, while Nacelle’s penultimate edition of House Sessions welcomes Subb-an and In2Deep.

Away from music of any kind, AUC’s production of Moliere’s Tartuffe moves into the second night of a seven-day run, while annual furniture fair, Le Marche, returns, with the five-day event taking place at Cairo Festival City this year.

There’s plenty to get stuck into on Friday, too, with Back 2 Basics celebrating their third anniversary with the first of three parties with Noir headlining the day-party at Fairmont Nile City. Other morning shindigs, meanwhile, include Eat & Barrel’s Eat to the Beat which will be helmed by DJ Hisham Zahran this week, while AUC hosts the inaugural edition of gastronomic gathering, The Festival, which will feature Lebanese alt-rockers, Mashrou’ Leila.

Later on in the evening, Riverside welcomes DJ Fuzzy & Ayman Nageeb for a special edition of Riverdeep celebrating Fuzzy’s birthday, while Straight Outta Temple this week welcomes DJ Medoz, as well as Fedde in his second gig in as many days.

Elsewhere, Cairo Jazz Club welcomes Shawky, Nader Tahawy and Omar Sherif for an eclectic night of house, while some of the highlight live music events come in the form of quirky brass band, El Nafekha, who perform at El Sawy Culturewheel, and Al Hadra, who bring their unique brand of spiritual music to 3elbt Alwan.

One of the standout events of the weekend is set to take place at the French Institute, meanwhile, as popular Egyptin comic, TokTok launches its 14th issue, while stand-up comedy is on the menu at the Marquee, as Comedy Republic take to the stage for the first of two nights.

Saturday is a little quieter, though the legendary Fathy Salama takes to the stage with his group, Sharkiat, at Cairo Opera House and French-Lebanese trumpeter, Ibrahim Maalouf, performs at the Sound & Light Theatre.

More live music can be found at Cairo Jazz Club, where Eftekasat wrap up the weekend, while Makan welcomes back Asyad El Zar.

Art is plentiful this weekend, too, with this week’s must-see new exhibition including CARAVAN’s annual travelling exhibition – this year called The Key – Ahmed Askalany’s Hippopotamus Amphibious showing at Mashrabia Gallery and Circles in the Sand at Art Talks.

These are, of course, just a few of the events awaiting this weekend – check out the Cairo 360 events calendar for more.