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

Hello Cairo!

Rejoice; the curfew is no
more, and we no longer have to suffer the Cinderella-style rush home. Go forth
readers! Go forth and reclaim the streets! But first, here’s the best of this weekend’s
events.

This Thursday, celebrate with some rai music at
After Eight as Sa7ara take the stage. Singer-songwriter Hany
Mostafa has been turning heads for the last year or so with his solo work, and
he will perform an early show at Cairo Jazz Club tonight, followed by Bluenotes. Alternatively, catch some traditional Arabic
music with the National Arab Music Ensemble at El Gomhouria Theatre, or
NubaNoor at El Tanboura Hall.

No Time For Art is a unique interactive theatre
performance that honours the martyrs of the revolution and criticizes army and police brutality against civilians, and is well worth a look,
while tonight is the last chance to catch the Egyptian
Modern Dance Theatre’s Egyptian Centennial Dance performance at Cairo Opera House. The
Tahrir Monologues are back, so head over to Cairo Opera House and immerse
yourself in the spirit of January 25th.

For a lighter take on the revolution, take a peek at the ‘Qarm Qart’ exhibition over at Mashrabia Gallery, and
enjoy a satirical interpretation of Muabarak’s reign. Speaking of peculiar
exhibitions, Townhouse Gallery is hosting the interesting poster project ‘Success
and Uncertainty’. Musicians and tech-freaks should check out the CABLE exhibition’s
last day at El Sawy Culturewheel. The exhibition features representatives from all
the major audio visual brand agents and outlets in Egypt, and is a meeting
point of artists and the audio-visual industry.

Time waits for no man, and Friday is a day
not to be wasted. Salalem get better every time they perform, and are back at
After Eight. Contemporary Egyptian rock bands Taxi Band & Alexandria’s Station
Band will give a joint performance at El Genaina Theatre, while Cairo Jazz Club will host veteran DJ Amir Shahara for a night of house funk. Arabic
songstress Reham Abdel Hakim will perform at El Sawy Culturewheel, while
the Abdel Halim Nowera Ensemble will perform at Cairo Opera House.

Cairenes can attend World Refugee Day at El Sawy Culturewheel, which is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees
throughout the world. El Sawy Culturewheel will also host two noteworthy
seminars; the Egyptian Back to Nature Association seminar with Ossama Aboul Souod and
‘Wheat is the Spike of Life’ with Dr. Magdy Badran.

The fact that we all have work early the
next day should not mean you should hold back on Saturday. And how could you
with Station Band at Cairo Jazz Club, Fuego at After Eight, and Nomades
International at El Sawy Culturewheel? If you’re looking for something relaxing
to wind down the end of the weekend to, look no further than the Cairo Symphony
Orchestra at Cairo Opera House. Then
again, you may want to end it on a note of drama with the thespians of
Monodrama Night at El Sawy Culturewheel.

Italian photographer Nicolò Tassoni Estense has a selection of his work showing at Cairo Opera House’s El Bab
Gallery till Monday, and is worth checking out for his classic approach to documenting
modern Egypt. El Sawy Culturewheel will
host another couple of seminars today, in which ‘The Future of Egypt after January 25th’ will immediately
follow Dr. Fatma El Shennawy’s ‘Parenting in a Time of
Revolution’ seminar.

There you go Cairo; you shouldn’t have a
minute to spare. Have fun!