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

There’s no need for an introduction, really. Everyone, for at least one moment of their lives, has imagined mastering a musical instrument with the fantasies of stringing a Spanish guitar before an enthusiastic audience or mastering a Chopin piece before impressed judges in an elegant hall.

We can’t promise those vivid dreams will come true, but we can definitely offer a few places in Cairo that will take you a step or two closer to achieving them.

Cairo Music Center

It’s only sensible to start here. Founded in 1989 by Dr Mohamed El-Tobgy, Cairo Music Center has grown to be the most recognised musical school in Egypt, with more than 7000 graduates. Dr El-Tobgy is a guitarist, a teacher, the local representative of ABRSM, and the principal of CMC. For those who don’t know, ABRSM is the exam board of the Royal Schools of Music, with its certificates ranking in the highest of international musical credentials. As suggested, CMC doesn’t only teach various musical instruments (guitar, violin, piano, drums, etc.) and music theory, but it also holds the examinations and grants official ABRSM certificates.

For western musical instruments, CMC uses the standard ABRSM curriculums. For the eastern musical instruments, like oud, it has its own especially-made curriculum. All in all, CMC is quite a serious place for serious music learners. However, that doesn’t mean its approach to teaching music is in no way fun. Quite the contrary, CMC holds the relationship between a student and their instrument in high regard, as they focus on the pleasure and joy that emits from expressing themselves using music.

The centre’s main location is in Heliopolis. For more information, check its Facebook page here.

Tango Music Center

Tango Music Center is yet another well-established music teaching school in Egypt. With over 30 years of experience, the school has a team of professional and qualified teachers specialising in a variety of instruments, including western ones like guitar, violin, piano and drums, and eastern ones, such as oud, nay, and tabla. The centre also prepares students for the Trinity Guildhall London Exams. Trinity College London is an international exam board that has been providing assessments since 1877 for around 600,000 candidates a year in over 60 countries.

Located in New Cairo, TMC is focused on creating a fun, approachable atmosphere in which the team teaches in both English and Arabic. There’s also a comfortable waiting room for parents if the student is too young to attend alone.

Tempo Music Academy 

The team of Tempo Music Academy introduces it as an artistic community defined by its passion for music and desire to pass down this love to new students. The Academy definitely lives up to this standard, as some of its best teachers are graduates from the academy itself who came back to pay forward the passion that they’ve received. The team focuses on the practical and theoretical aspects of music, with their sessions being an equal mix of both.

You can find more about the academy on its Facebook page here.

The Music Hub

Also in Heliopolis, The Music Hub was founded by Rami Attallah, a pianist, composer, and arranger. He’s also the grandson of the jazz grandmaster Bib Henein. The hereditary love of music is evident in how much care Attallah puts into the foundation of The Music Hub, where a team of equally enthusiastic music lovers offer courses in everything from various musical instruments to vocals and music theory.

The hub’s approach is a fun, loose one focused on making music accessible to everyone, whether they’re beginners just discovering their interest in music or professionals who want to hone their skills more.

You can find more information on the centre on its Facebook page here.

Vibe for Developing Arts

A little more than a decade ago, a group of young musicians put all their love and effort into founding Vibe. Located in Downtown Cairo, Vibe is about everything musical. The team regularly holds classes and workshops in music but is in no way limited to this. The services include acoustically-engineered rehearsal and practice spaces, as well as professional recording, mixing and mastering, musical instruments and accessories store, sale and repair, and music management and programming for a variety of events.

Check out more about the complex on its Facebook page here.