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

You never truly appreciate the blessing of a weekend until you’re sat in front of a computer writing about concerts, parties and exhibitions that you can’t go to quite yet – it’s a very strange form of torture, so let’s get on with this week’s entry of the riveting Cairo Weekend Guide

Thursday sees event organiser, Nacelle, take on two events in one evening, starting with a special concert at Royal Club Mohamed-Aly that sees the Nile Project perform as part of a spate of performances and activities in Egypt. The second of Nacelle’s events is the latest edition of House Sessions – which was announced this week to be in its final season – with French DJ, Oxia, and Cairo’s own Hassan Abou Alam providing the music. Elsewhere, electronic music fans will be heading to Downtown, as Zeina, Klady and Aly B kick off the weekend at Zigzag, while Neil Edwards will be doing likewise in Maadi at the Tap.

Live music tonight at Cairo Jazz Club comes courtesy of acoustic ace, Shady Ahmed, and rockabilly group, the Cadillacs, while increasingly popular and quirky brass band, El Nafikha, take to the stage at Garden City’s ROOM Art Space. Also in Garden City, Rooftop Lounge is back in action after a brief event-hiatus, with DJ Medoz takeing to the decks for R&B Night, while DJ Fuzzy & Ayman Nageeb return to Le Duplex at Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah and Fairmont City’s Saigon Restaurant & Lounge starts its weekend with Hisham Blues.

At the other end of the musical scale, enduring singer, Medhat Saleh, performs at MUST Opera House at 6th of October City, while nearby at Arkan Mall, Johnny’s Oriental Night welcomes bellydancer, Ranim, while Zamalek's 3elbt Alwan hosts a special show by illusionist and magician, Moustapha Berjaoui.

One of the more unique events this weekend, meanwhile, is taking place at El Sawy Culturewheel, where budding comedians will be taking to the stage for a Stand-Up Comedy Competition.

If you can bring yourself to wake-up at a decent hour on Friday, Eat & Barrel welcomes Baher for this weekend’s edition of day-party, Eat to the Beat, while music and food can also be found at Downtown bistro, Eish & Malh, where Ibrahim El Haddad performs.

Later on in the evening, Maadi bar, Cheers, hosts a George Michael Night led by co-owner and crooner, Ahmed Harfoush, and fellow Maadi haunt, the Tap, hosts local rockers, Screwdriver.

Back in the centre of town, ever-growing local label, BESWORX, are out in full force with Mohey, Gaser and SLim Nasr performing as part of a special showcase at Zigzag, while Cairo Jazz Club welcomes DJs, FairouzT, Special K and Omar Sherif for a night of house music and duo, Disco Misr, return to Riverside for the Zamalek venue’s popular Riverdeep series.

Elswhere, Lebanese star, Diana Haddad, continues a busy weekend for MUST Opera House and experimental post-rock band, Telepoetic, perform at ROOM Art Space, while El Sawy Culturewheel hosts two notable concerts; one by the El Sakia String Orcherstra and another by 16-person group, Ayamna El Helwa.

Saturday is considerably quieter across Cairo, though there’s plenty of live music to be found, with Shady Ahmed back on stage for the second time this weekend, this time at the Tap. Elsewhere, ROOM Art Space hosts a double header of live music, with a night of experimental-electronic music courtesy of unique band, Machine Eat Man, as well as Rami Abadir, while Hawidro bring their Afro-Egyptian sounds to Cairo Jazz Club.

Egypt’s biggest band, Cairokee, are set to perform El Sawy Culturewheel and Dina Salim closes the weekend at 3elbt Alwan, while Cheers puts the spotlight on you with Karaoke Night and the Cairo Symphiony Orchestra perform at Cairo Opera House.

There’s no shortage of art around the capital, meanwhile, with one of the standout exhibitios right now coming in the form of Yasser Rostom’s Stunning Doves & Crows; showing at Zamalek gallery, Art Talks, the collection sees Rostom uses his distinct surrealist style to touch on politics, religion and culture in the Middle East in the most spectacular of ways. Elsewhere, acclaimed artist, Nathan Doss, is exhibiting some of his sculpting work at Zamalek Art Gallery as part of An Introduction into Voidness and group exhibition Abstract Practices has been turning heads at Al Masar Gallery.

These are, of course, just a few of the events across the capital this weekend – check out the Cairo 360 events calendar for more.