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

More local talent is in the spotlight, with award-winning Alexandrian band, Massar Egbari, performing at Sufi in Zamalek, while Balady Band fuse the old with the new at El Dammah Theater in Downtown Cairo. Eftekasat – one of Cairo’s most enduring bands of the last decade – perform at Cairo Opera House. That’s not all at Cairo Opera House though; three-act ballet, ‘Le Corsaire’, is also on show.

Michelle Rounds performs the first of three shows this weekend at the Kempinski Nile Hotel’s Jazz Bar, while north along the river, Tamarai hosts Thriller Night; an evening dedicated to the King of Pop, with Earnest Valentino – one of the world’s leading MJ impersonators.

Despite being blighted with cancellations and postponement throughout, the CirCairo International Circus Festival continues this evening with entertainment at El Genaina Theatre, courtesy of performers from Egypt, Switzerland and the UK.

Meanwhile, genre-bashing group, Like Jelly, perform at Photopia in Heliopolis, the guitar-loving brothers of Double Barrel perform at the Nasr City branch of Bikya and Darb 17 18 hosts an evening of French Gypsy Jazz and folk courtesy of Romano Bebop.

DJ Miesh and DJ Baher Eid bring Friday’s music a little closer to home at Cairo Jazz Club, as they unleash Cairo’s adopted musical genre: house. In saying that, jazz in Cairo has been surging ever so slightly in recent times, as can be seen tonight. Michelle Rounds continues to impress at Jazz Bar and while Ahmed Harfoush takes his weekly spot at the Fairmont Nile City’s Saigon Restaurant & Lounge, while Zamalek’s Jazz Mate welcomes Ashraf Haabashi and Rami Atalla for a night of upbeat, funky jazz fusion – their words, not ours.

It doesn’t end there, though; with Halloween a few weeks away, Downtown Mall is holding an all-day Spooky Halloween Bazaar, while Designopolis invite all to their Halloween Festival.

The 100Copies Music Space continues to champion local, underground talent on Saturday, with hip-hop artist, Abyusif, performing. That cool-cat, Ahmed Harfoush, performs again, this time at Bar D’O, while local groups, City Band and Ashara Gharby perform at Cairo Jazz Club.

Elsewhere, Cairokee front-man, Amir Eid, embarks on a solo stretch starting with a performance at 10 Mahmoud Bassiony, while the CirCairo International Circus Festival sadly comes to a conclusion at Al Azhar Park.

Fashionistas will be like moths to a fire this weekend, as Le Pacha 1901 hosts the launch Maklid Wali’s Winter 2012 collection. Meanwhile, Saturday also sees the launch of the 12th Independent Short Film Festival. The four-day event will be held at the Goethe Institute.

Art lovers will be pleased too, with a host of new exhibitions this week. ‘IRL’ at Townhouse Gallery is a clinical look at the dichotomy of the virtual world and the physical world, while young, Egyptian artist Shayma Kamel presents her latest collection of work, ‘Roh’ at Tache Art Gallery.

There’s plenty more where that came from; check out the Cairo 360 events calendar for more.

Have a great weekend!