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

It’s another busy weekend in Cairo, full of music concerts,
workshops and festivals!

Start off your Thursday with classical music concerts at the
Cairo Opera House, including Abdel Halim Nowera Ensemble for Arabic Music as
well as a harp concert, or head to Al Gomhoreya Theatre for ‘Om Al Shohadaa’, a tribute concert to the mothers of January 25th’s martyrs.

For live alternative music, head to After Eight for Egyptian band
Sa7ra. Nagham Masry will perform at El Sawy Culturewheel, with lyrics by poets
like Salah Jahin and Amal Donkol, while a double concert by Top Hat Rats and Screwdriver at Cairo
Jazz Club promises a night of 50s classics by icons like Elvis and Johnny Cash as well as rock
covers by Pink Floyd and Guns N’Roses.

Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art
continues its ‘Self Portrait’ workshop to teach self-portrait videos, while the
Revolution Exhibition at Darb 17 18 is still going strong.

Thursday also
marks the launch of the three-day Tahrir Book Fair at AUC’s Downtown Campus,
promising thousands of books by foreign and local authors; so be sure to catch
that.

On Friday, musical fans should check out El Sawy
Culturewheel’s Broadway Musical Concert, where tunes from musicals like Cats,
Les Miserables, My Fair Lady and A West Side Side story will be performed from 6PM
onwards. Egyptian band Salalem promise a night of funky grooves with sarcastic
lyrics about politics and social life at After Eight, while DJ RaySoo from
South-East Asia will spin the decks at the Cairo Jazz Club.

Saturday marks the launch of the Spring Plant and Flower
Exhibition at Orman Gardens in Dokki, a massive garden full of thousands of
potted plants, flowers and seeds as well as anything green fingers could
desire.

Souk El Horreya at SODIC/Designopolis is a charity fair that includes
live music concerts as well as a live mural painting by Barcelona artist Juan
Carlos Noria. The fair will have booths by various charity groups and NGOs
talking about their charity initiatives to give back to the needy and underprivileged
in Egypt.

Also in Designopolis, Tache Art Gallery launches ‘Thawretna
Souretna’ a photo exhibition by a group of Egyptian photographers such as Alaa
Taher, Yehia El Alaily and Laura El Tantawy. Proceeds will go to a charity
working with those affected financially by the events of the revolution.

On Saturday, be sure to catch ‘El Fann Midan’ Festival in
Abdeen Square, including performances by Ali El Haggar, Tahrir singer Rami
Essam, Fathy Salama and others. The festival aims to celebrate the positivity
of the Egyptian revolution and encourage civilian participation. A smiliar festival will also take place in Alexandria on Saturday.

El Sawy Culturewheel is full of events this Saturday,
including a performance by El Sakia Choir in memory of legendary singer Abdel
Halim Hafez and ‘The Spirit of Tahrir’ seminar by the Revolution Forum.

Mohamed Zakaria’s award-winning play ‘Casino’ will also be
performed at El Sawy at 6PM, while the AUC 11th Talent Show will
showcase the best in amateur performing talents at 5PM.

And there you have it, Cairo! This city never stops giving fun, creative ways to spend your weekend!