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

Get ready for a culture heavy weekend this week Cairo!

Kick your Thursday off by heading to El Masar Gallery for the opening of renowned
Egyptian artist Georges
Bahgoury’s exhibition. The Paris-based artist and caricaturist has been
dubbed the ‘granddaddy of caricature,’ so make sure to catch this exhibit,
which runs till February 7th.

Do your part for charity by attending the Banati Foundation photography
exhibition at the Cairo Opera House, where photographs taken by the foundation’s
young girls will be displayed and sold. Proceeds will go towards supporting
this foundation, which works with homeless girls in Haram.

Round up your night of culture by heading to the Cairo Opera house for Opera
Aida. This opera by Giuseppe Verdi is based on a scenario by French
Egyptologist Auguste Mariette.

If you’d rather spend your Thursday night listening to live contemporary
music then head to Makan where Mohsen
and the Band will be playing popular Egyptian classics, including songs by
Sayed Darwish and A. Fouad Negm. Over at El Sawy Culturewheel, accomplished oud
player Georges Kazazian will perform an interesting fusion of jazz, accompanied
by renowned jazz pianist Rashad Fahim and vocalist Mariam Ali, among others.
Lastly, catch Tony Kaldas at the Cairo Jazz Club for a night of oriental jazz,
pop and funk.

On Friday, head to the Mashrabia Gallery where local artist Ibrahim El Haddad will showcase a collection of his work for the first time since
his return from Switzerland.

Later that night, head to Rawabet Theatre for ‘Performance
for a Cause,’ where artists Hany Mustafa and Mohamed El Deeb are among the
many performers participating to raise funds for important development projects
that fight poverty and domestic violence.

Looking for something a little on the lighter side? Then head to the Cairo
Jazz Club where DJ KZ
will spin his enjoyable house beats. This DJ only debuted in Egypt recently but
has had extensive international experience playing around the world.

On Saturday, Tache Art Gallery in Designopolis will celebrate its opening
with the launch of the exhibition by internationally acclaimed local artist Huda
Lutfi. The exhibition promises to bring a wealth of culturally constructed
notions that will question the viewer, including work from the artist’s latest
photo montage, Fragments of Street Life
from 2010.

As night rolls around you need to make your way out to Darb 17 18 for Egyptronica! A fun night with local electronic musicians, including performances from
Neobyrd, Polymorph, Machine Eat Man and more.

If electronic music isn’t your thing, you can head the Cairo Opera House
instead for a night of ‘World
Classics’. Featuring Maestro Mina Zekry, Soprano Mona Rafla and virtuoso
Mohamed Sharara, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra will perform classical compositions
by Brahms and Müller.

Have a great, artistic and charitable weekend Cairo!