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

Hello, Cairo!

It’s shaping up to be a busy weekend and despite the unpredictable weather, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into, from live music and parties, to festivals and screenings.

We begin at Darb 1718, where Thursday sees the launch of new live music series, Mazzika X El Sat7, with avant-garde collective, Procession Towards the Unknown, set to take to the stage. More live music can be found at Cairo Jazz Club meanwhile, as Danny Malak, Shady Ahmed and Amro & the Big Bang Boogie, make a three-act line up.

Elsewhere, Safi takes to the decks at Maadi bar, the Tap, and Aly B, Aly Goede and Minus T kick the weekend off at Zigzag, while this week’s edition of Thursday Obsession sees DJ Junior join O Bar resident, DJ Irma, at the Fairmont Nile City club. Meanwhile, Conrad Cairo Hotel’s Stage One continues its week-long anniversary celebrations with Belly Dancer Brenda.

One of the highlight events of the weekend, meanwhile, comes at Downtown’s Greek Campus; the second edition of annual folk music festival, WANAS, kicks off three back-to-back days of local and international music. Elsewhere, Hany Adel, Osou Lotfy and Hany El Dakak team up again for another HOH gig, this time at Uptown Cairo

Friday is a busy day, with Nacelle’s outdoor music festival, Funk N Pop, rounding up some of the city’s best DJs, bands and musicians at Royal Club Mohamed Aly, and Galleria40 kicking off its Winter Festival with a live performance from rockabilly band, the Cadillacs, and a special fashion bazaar by Style Treasure, while Eat & Barrel’s weekly brunch, Eat to the Beat, hosts DJ Nour Fahmy.

Later in the evening, three of Cairo’s best young DJs are taking over Cairo Jazz Club, as Fairouz T., Nader Tahawy and SHawky play, while live music at the Tap comes courtesy of local band, Blues Attack.

Speaking of good, young DJs, BESWORX label mates, Mohey and Slim Nasr, take to the decks at Downtown Cairo’s Zigzag, while the latest edition of Riverdeep is set to see up-and-coming duo, Disco Masr, as well as Hussein Fahmy, take to the DJ booth at Zamalek’s Riverside.

At the other end of the musical scale, the legendary Yehya Khailil will perform at Cairo Opera House, and Egypt’s biggest band, Cairokee, play several gigs throughout the day at El Sawy Culturewheel. Away from music altogether, the comedians of Al Hezb El Comedy are taking over Zamalek’s 3elbt Alwan for an evening of stand-up, while El Sawy Culturewheel’s annual Chocofest kicks off.

Saturday is considerably quieter, though Cairo Jazz Club is ending the weekend with a heavy dose of Mediterranean jazz courtesy of local band El Dor El Awal, and the Tap welcome back Electric Picnic Blanket for another night of ‘bandaoke’. Elsewhere, Egypt’s number one Beatles tribute band, Glass Onion, perform at Cairo Jazz Club and Zamalek’s Sufi screens award-winning documentary, The Salt of Earth.

There’s no shortage of art across Cairo’s galleries meanwhile, with some of the standout exhibitions coming in the form of Britt Boutros Ghali’s newest collection, showing at Picasso Gallery, Atef Ahmed’s The Revival of Rhythms at Gallery Misr and Wind of Change at Art Corner.

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