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

 Having been writing the weekend guide for years now, we seem to have run out of intros. Cairo, meanwhile is never out of events to keep you entertained during the weekend and that’s what really matters. Here’s a glimpse of what the sleepless city offers this weekend.

Thursday begins at Zamalek’s NVIC, where Thursday Lecture sees May Hawas, Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the AUC, discussing the works and lives of Cairo-born artists, Waguih Ghali, George Moustaki and Albert Cossery, in a lecture entitled Literary Bastards, Down-and-Out in Paris, London and Egypt.

Poetry fanatics can also share their literary talent with the world at Balcon Heliopolis’ open-mic night, Persona: Yours Truly, while comedians in disguise can put their sprouting talents to test at Darb 1718, which hosts an open-mic night that also sees Al Hezb El Comedy taking to the stage.

But music lovers have the lion’s share this Thursday; lively acoustic group, The Woodpeckers Trio, take to the stage of Garden City’s ROOM Art Space to cover a host of classic rock tunes by various artists. Also paying homage, but to Pink Floyd exclusively, local band, Andromida, take to the stage at The Tap East.

NeoByrd is on double duty this weekend in on both Thursday and Friday (Photo: Cairo Gossip)

Elsewhere, electronic music is front and centre at Cairo Jazz Club, where Machine Eat Man, alongside guest vocalist, Sammy Sayed from Scarab and Procession Towards the Unknown take to the stage, before NeoByrd takes over, while house is the name of the game at The Tap Maadi, courtesy of Cairo’s favourites, Sebzz and Ouzo.  Alternatively, Aly B and Hassan Abou Alam take to the decks at Zigzag, DJs Carlos and A. Salah perform at Korba bar, 24K, while DJ Nada is the star of The Garden Nile Front’s pre-Halloween party.

Music continues on Friday, with local cover band, Mixtape, taking to the stage to play a variety of classic hits, Nour Khan taking to that of Bab 18 for some anime rock numbers, while Rami Attallah Trio, take to that of ROOM Art Space for a night of Jazz music.

As the night grows older, the second season of ZigZag’s Anthems sees an audiovisual performance by DJ Abou Samra, who will be joined by Italian DJ, Simone Vitullo, and local up-and-comer Jimmy as Cairo Jazz Club’s Friday Fever sees Sync Tank and Sebzz taking to decks for a night off house. Elsewhere, DJ Richard R. takes to the decks of The Tap East, while rock music is on the menu  at The Tap Maadi with local band, Bluezophrenia, taking to the stage, before DJ Jack Avakian hits the decks.

While the tenth annual edition of the Panorama of European Film is set to begin on November 8th, The opening party is taking place this Friday at Downtown’s Sherazade, where Moosefrog, NeoByrd and Minus T, take to the stage.

Music aside, Cairo has been talking about nothing but World’s Greatest Illusionists, the four long-awaited live shows, which take place over two days at Cairo Festival City’s The Marquee. The show sees a variety of international illusionists and magicians, including Kevin James, Yu Ho Jin, Jay Mattioli and Jonathan Goodwin.

Hisham Kharma perfroms at El Sawy Culturewheel this Saturday (Photo: Cairo Gossip)

As for Saturday, ROOM Art Space welcomes  two Alexandrian bands, Object Obscure and Disorder, Madaar hosts a night of Oriental and jazz music, performed by the piano and accordion duo, Black & White, while musician and composer, Hisham Kharma, takes to the stage of El Sawy Culturewheel’s Wisdom Hall, with his unique experimental electronic fusion sounds.  

This week’s version of Saturday L’Oriental at Cairo Jazz Club sees a double header of live music, with contemporary world music band, Almena, and Nubian inspired folksinger, Basheer, taking to the stage, while Underground welcomes The Gypsy Jazz band and The Tap Maadi hosts a rock & blues night that sees Blunotes performing. Last but not least, The Tap East welcomes all the talented Cairenes for an open-jam session.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg – check out the rest of the weekend’s events with the Cairo 360 events calendar.