National Theatre Festival (30 July - 15 August)

In its 17th edition this year, Egypt's National Theatre Festival, was originally scheduled to kick off on 15 July but the date was moved to 30 July.
Named after Egyptian iconic actress Samiha Ayoub, the festival continues until mid-August, with plays being staged across numerous theatres in Cairo.

Follow the Festival's Facebook page for more details. 

New films across cinemas
Wednesday 31 July brings a number of new films to movie theatres across Egypt.

- Harold and The Purple Crayon, starring Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani
- Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, a Japanese animated film starring Yûki Kaji, Ayumu Murase, Kaito Ishikawa
- Born Pink, a Korean production starring Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa, Rosé
- Oddity, starring Tadhg Murphy, Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken
- Boneyard, starring Mel Gibson, 50 Cent, Brian Van Holt, Nora Zehetner

Fathy Salama and Sheikh Mahmoud El-Tohamy - music
Wednesday 31 July, 8.30pm
Cairo Opera House, Open Air theatre, Zamalek, Cairo

Dubbed Sufism vs Modernism, the concert features the Grammy-award-winning Fathy Salama and an Islamic Sufi chanter Mahmoud El-Tohamy, alongside a number of other musicians.

The Sufism vs Modernism project looks into the Egyptian authentic heritage and folklore, mixing it with electronic sounds, pop, hip hop, rock, and jazz grooves.

The son of the famous Sufi chanter Sheikh Yassin El-Tohamy, Mahmoud is among the masters of deep-rooted Islamic musical art. 

The concert is part of the ongoing Summer Festival taking place across Cairo, Alexandria, and Damanhour Opera Houses. Check the full programme of the festival here.  

Youssra El-Hawary - music
Wednesday 31 July, 9pm
Boom Room, Madinaty

Youssra El Hawary will perform at Boom Room stage for the first time, presenting her modern pop Arabic tunes accompanied by accordion, and her band.

El-Hawary took the music scene by storm in 2012 with her hit single El-Soor, which discussed the Egyptian army's concrete barricades that had then started to criss-cross downtown Cairo.

Since then, the accordionist and her band have given several concerts in Cairo and Alexandria and have participated in festivals abroad.

She also hosted a weekly radio show in 2014 named Aadet Mazzika on local commercial radio station Nogoum FM, which aimed to highlight local independent musicians.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina Summer Festival (1-31 August)
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Summer Festival kicks off on Thursday 1 August in Alexandria, with a concert by Hamza Namira.

The festival will offer various events including concerts, theater plays, stand up comedy, workshops, dance performances, and family activities, on a daily basis.

The music programme will feature numerous renowned Egyptian artists such as Ali El-Haggar, Omar Khairat, Sharmoofers, Hisham Abbas, Abu, among dozens of others. Besides Egyptian musicians the Bibliotheca stages will also host artists from artists from Tunisia, Germany, Portugal, France, and the USA.

Check the full programme of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Summer Festival here.

  

Cassette 90 - music
Thursday 1 August
North Square Mall, Al-Alamein, North Coast, Egypt

Cassette 90 is a concert featuring numerous Egyptian stars of the 1990s namely Hamid El Shaeri, Ehab Tawfik, Mohamed Fouad, Khaled Agag, and Hisham Abbas.

Cassette 90 premiered in August last year in Jeddah.

In Al-Alamein, the event is organized in cooperation with the Saudi General Entertainment Authority and Riyadh Season.

Hany Shaker - music
Thursday 1 August
North Square Mall, Al-Alamein, North Coast, Egypt

Renowned long-time Egyptian singer, Hany Shaker, made his debut in the music industry in the early 1970s. 

Shaker has an extensive musical career with hundreds of songs and a large number of accolades.

Shaker’s spring festival concert will be accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Mostafa Helmy.

The concert is part of the ongoing, 2nd New Alamein Festival. Check the festival’s highlights here. 

Nesma Mahgoub - music
Friday 2 August, 8.30pm
Alexandria Opera House (Sayed Darwish Theatre) Alexandria

Nesma Mahgoub is an Egyptian singer and actress who became a star after winning the eighth season of Star Academy Arabia in 2011. 

Mahgoub sings in a variety of languages, including Arabic, English, Italian, German, Latin, French, and Hindi. She sings in genres such as opera (soprano), jazz, pop, musical and Oriental. 

Mahgoub is also known for voicing Elsa in the Arabic Dub of Disney’s Frozen. 

The concert is part of the ongoing Summer Festival taking place across Cairo, Alexandria, and Damanhour Opera Houses. Check the full programme of the festival here. 

Sheikh Mahmoud El-Tohamy - music
Friday 2 August, 8.30pm
Damanhour Opera House

The son of the famous Sufi chanter Sheikh Yassin El-Tohamy, Mahmoud is among the masters of deep-rooted Islamic musical art.

He performed Sufi poetry chants at traditional Islamic Sunni events across the country, often appearing at large moulid events in Cairo's Al-Hussein and Al-Sayeda Zeinab districts.

El-Tohamy often collaborates with Egyptian Grammy-award-winning Fathy Salama and his band Sharkiat in a project launched since 2018 titled Sufism vs Modernism.

The concert is part of the ongoing Summer Festival taking place across Cairo, Alexandria, and Damanhour Opera Houses. Check the full programme of the festival here. 

Omar Khairat - music
Friday 2 August
North Square Mall, Al-Alamein, North Coast, Egypt

Born in 1947, the multi-award-winning Khairat is one of the top musicians of the Arab world with hundreds of memorized compositions in his repertoire.

Throughout his long and successful career, he has written scores for numerous films and television series, including The Sixth Day (1984), The Terrorist (1993), Mafia (2002), Girl’s Love (2003), The Embassy in the Building (2005) and Deer’s Blood (2006), to name but a few.

His concerts in Egypt and across the Arab world are usually fully-booked weeks ahead of time with his large fan base singing along and humming along to compositions like Heya Di El-Hayah, Fi Hawid El Leil, Arabian Rhapsody, Fiha Haga Helwa, Eadam Mayet, El-Khawaga Abdel-Kader, Giran El-Hana, Saber, Arfa, Qadeyet Am Ahmed, Khali Balak Men Aklak and other classic hits of time-honoured TV and film themes.

The concert is part of the ongoing, 2nd New Alamein Festival. Check the festival’s highlights here.  

Ramy Gamal - music
Friday 2 August
Musical Arena, Al-Alamein, North Coast, Egypt

Pop singer, songwriter Ramy Gamal rose to fame with his song Sebo which has received over 46 million views on YouTube. 

He then launched his thriving career in 2011 with album Maleesh Daawa Behad

Throughout the past decade, he has written over 200 songs, amny of which became highly popular in Egypt’s pop scene.

The concert is part of the ongoing, 2nd New Alamein Festival. Check the festival’s highlights here. 

Ahmed Saad & Mahmoud El-Esseily - music
Friday 2 August
Seashore by Hyde Park developments, Ras El-Hekma

Ahmed Saad is a well known pop and Shaabi singer. Throughout his career, he has released numerous albums and singles, with many of his songs becoming theme songs for popular films and TV series.

Saad is also known for collaborating with various Arab musicians, including mahraganat singers. He recently joined forces with 3enba and Double Zuksh for the song El-Melouk (The Kings), featured in the Marvel series Moon Knight, directed by Mohamed Diab.

Esseily came to limelight in 2002, and released his first album Rayeh Ala Fein? (Where Are You Going?) in 2004.

El-Esseily has since released several albums, becoming one of the most popular Egyptian singers and songwriters. Faithful to the light pop genre, El-Esseily touches the hearts of his fans with songs that tackle themes of happiness and the pains of romantic relationships, which take a highly personalised angle.

Mohamed Ramadan - music
Friday 2 August
Porto Golf, Al-Alamein, North Coast

One of Egypt’s best known actors-turned-rapper, Mohamed Ramadan returns to Al-Alamein with a new set of his music works.

His well-known rap-mahraganat hits include Balalein, Number One, Ala Allah, Taaleily, Mafia, Tanteet, Zilzal, Bum Bum and others.

Ruby - music
Friday 2 August
El Barrio North, Stella Di Mare, Al-Alamein, North Coast

Born in 1980, Rania Hussein Mohamed Tawfik, popularly known as Ruby, started taking small roles in films in the late 1990s. She made her first significant appearance in Yousef Chahine's film Silence...We're Rolling (2001).

In parallel, she embarked on a singing career, entering the limelight with her single Enta Aref Eih (What Do You Know) in 2003. The music video was shot in Prague, presenting Ruby belly dancing on the streets.

Over the years, Ruby has released several albums and singles. She appeared in numerous TV ads while continuing to work in films and television series.

In recent years, she starred in ِthe television series This Is What Went Down (2019) and Mrs. Mayor (2023), and the film Mommies Group (2023).