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

Hello, Cairo!

The countdown has begun for what is shaping up to be an eventful weekend across the capital,with live music, parties, exhibitions, festivals and more awaiting.

Thursday is busy as usual with one of the most talked about gigs of the weekend seeing Angham performing at the Pyramids. At the other end of the musical scale, Theater of Dreams hosts influential British DJ and producer, Richy Ahmed, at Le Pacha 1901’s Ontop in Zamalek, on a night that will also see local DJs, Abou Samra and Fayek, perform.

Elsewhere Fairmont Nile City’s TwøFøld kicks off its first full weekend in operation with a night of hip-hop and r&b courtesy of AK and A-Squared, while more hip-hop can be found over in Korba bar, the Garden, where DJ Feedo is set to play as part of this week’s edition of Motion, as well as at Garden City’s Rooftop Lounge, where DJ Joe leads a Retro Party.

Meanwhile, Cairo Jazz Club starts its weekend with a triple-header of live music with Danny Malak, Hassan Ramzy and Screwdriver, while Beatles tribute band, Glass Onion, take to the stage at ROOM Art Space and Youssra El Hawary makes an appearance at Downtown’s Greek Campus. Also in Downtown, Sayed El Refaee and Mashrabiat perform at El Gomhouria Theatre, while further down the banks of the Nile, Fairmont Nile City welcomes Hisham Blues for a perofrmace at Saigon Restaurant & Lounge.

Away from music, a three-day Indian Food Festival kicks of at Baron Hotel in Heliopolis and Swan Lake moves into its penultimate night at Cairo Opera House, while one of the biggest names in the Middle East in fashion photography, Toufic Araman, is set to give a talk at the Old French Consulate.

Early-risers on Friday can enjoy another edition of Nacelle’s mini-music-fest, Funk N Pop, and Royal Club Mohamed Aly, or Eat & Barrel’s weekly brunch-come-day-party, Eat to the Beat, which this week hosts DJs Mobzz and Fedde.

Later in the evening, the legendary Omar Khairat leads a performace at El Sawy Culturewheel as part of the cultural centre’s anniversary celebrations, while ROOM Art Space welcomes unique Egyptian/Portuguese/Russian group, NAR.

Downtown’s Zigzag is set to kick off a new concept, meanwhile, in the form of Nebula – an audio-visual experience which debute to the sets of DJs Baher, Ouzo and DubFunk. AK is back in action, too, with the DJ set to take on opening duties for Parisian DJ, Pee, at Nile-side Giza club, the Temple, while tech, deep and melodic house are on the menu at Cairo Jazz Club, with Akladios, Nu Sherif and Nourre Fahmy making the Friday-night line-up.

As has been the case thus far this year, Saturday is considerably quieter, save for the ninth annual edition of the Cairo International Women's Film Festival which is set to kick off six days of screenings, talks and masterclasses. There are some good gigs to get stuck into, as well, starting at Maadi bar, the Tap, which is set to close its weekend with Tamer ‘The Guvna’ Emad and a rare performance from local rock band, Living Too Late. Elsehwere, Wust El Balad are back at Cairo Jazz Club and neo-pop band, Hawas, return to ROOM Art Space, while Cheers in Maadi invites you to take the mic for Saturday Karaoke.

In terms of art, there are some outstanding exhibitions across Cairo right now, including Yasser Rostom’s Doves & Crows at Art Talks, An Introduction to Voidness by Sculptor Nathan Doss showing at Zamalek Art Gallery, while Al Kahila Art Gallery’s Tannoura Exhibition brings together the works of nine Egyptian artists

These are, of course, just a few of the events set to take place this weekend across Egypt’s capital – check out the Cairo 360 events calendar for more.