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

Hello Cairo!

With Easter behind us and summer ahead, Cairo has plenty in store for a weekend pick-me-up, with live music, parties, art, festivals awaiting.

On Thursday, Egypt’s only restaurant and cafe trade solutions fair, Cafex 2015, is back for its second edition. The Fair is on from Thursday until Saturday at Halls 4 and 5 at the CICC. For more information, click here.

CJC kicks off the weekend with the acoustic folk music of Shady Ahmed, followed by everyone’s favourite Beatles cover band, Glass Onion. Across the Nile, Fairmont Nile City’s O Bar hosts DJ duo Fuzzy & Ayman Nageeb for another edition of Thursday Obsessions.

Rooftop Lounge returns with DEEP featuring Pacha Sharm resident DJ Ouzo, while Man-O takes to the stage at The Tap for night of eclectic music selection.

New Age group, Musiphoria, blend musical influences into a unique cacophony of sound at Antique Khana, while Noha Taha brings her sultry vocals to Saigon Restaurant & Lounge.

The Abdel Halim Nowera Ensemble perform a selection of quintessential Arabic songs at the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House, while the Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre Company perform Ahmed Mourad's 'The Blue Elephant', choreographed and directed by Monadel Anter, at the El Gomhouria Theatre.

On Friday, Cairo Bites 2015 kicks off, featuring more food, vendors and live entertainment than last year. The festival takes place over Friday and Saturday at the new, and gorgeous, Family Park in New Cairo. For more information, click here.

CJC hosts a huge night of house music featuring A-Squared, Special K. & Shady Ezz behind the decks, meanwhile, Eat & Barrel welcomes brothers Ouzo and Joe Mestekawy for this Friday’s edition of Eat to the Beat.

Marc Wahba and M Fayek get behind the decks for the increasingly popular party series Riverdeep at Riverside, while O Bar kicks off a new series titled Good Vibes, featuring Cairo DJ Hussein Gamal and resident DJ Irma.

Michelle Rounds jazzes things up at Garden City’s Rooftop Lounge with her impressive vocal range, while lively rockers, Bluezophrenia take to the stage at The Tap.

Cavallini pays tribute to all things Levant at Lebanese Night, while Pepperland perform their favourite Beatles tracks at 3elbt Alwan.

On Saturday, CJC hosts the unique sounds of Osama El Hady and the Blowers for a night that’ll include jazz, blues, rock, fusion and brass, while Cavallini takes a stroll down memory lane at Oldies Night

The Cairo Symphony Orchestra perform works by A. Dvořák, S. Rachmaninov and F. Mendelssohn at the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House, meanwhile, soulful acoustic singer Hany Ramzy ends the weekend on a chilled out note at the Tap.

CARAVAN’s annual exhibition brings together 47 international artists to develop an open dialogue between different cultures and faiths. The exhibition is titled ‘The Bridge’ and is on display at West Town Hub. Elsewhere, cultural hub Darb1718 hosts the Ritornello Exhibition, bringing together seven sound artists in an exploration of aural plurality and collaborative sound.

Exploring life through non-human eyes, Mohamed Abdalla’s fascination with insects is cited as the inspiration for his exhibition, ‘Parallel Life’, at El Mashrabia Gallery, while Nile Art Gallery hosts Reda Abdel Salam’s solo exhibition, ‘In Search of Ecstasy Amid Forgotten Times.’

Other art galleries this weekend include Steve Double’s ‘Here We Are Now’ at the Tap, and ‘This is an Exhibition about Shoes’ at the Townhouse Gallery.

All of this and more is waiting for you this weekend, for the full rundown, check out the Cairo 360 events calendar here.