Thursday 16 May

Concert by Oud Player Georges Kazazian at St. John's Church, 7pm

The fifth edition of the Caravan Festival of the Arts, which kicked off on 9 May with an exhibition of 90 painted donkeys at the St. John's Church in Maadi, seeks to promote interfaith dialogue and challenge sectarian strife with a dynamic, weeklong cultural programme. This concert by renowned oud (kind of plucked stringed instrument resembling lute) player Georges Kazazian will be the last in a series of cultural events, including talks by actor Amr Waked and author Alaa Al-Aswany. Read more on the Caravan Festival here.

St. John's Church, on the corner of Port Said Road and Road 17, Maadi, Cairo

Youssra El-Hawary concert in El-Geneina Theatre, 8pm

The talented accordionist has only been on the scene for a year, but managed to gain recognition as one of the strongest female voices of the independent music scene in Cairo. Joined by her band Sedky Sakhr, Shady El-Husseiny and Carl Capelle, El-Hawary’s music takes on simple, yet powerful lyrics and transforms them into catchy songs, mixing the sounds of the accordion, piano, flute, harmonica and mandolin. Read more on El-Hawary here.

Al-Azhar Park, Salah Salem Road, Darassa, Cairo

Ten Cities in Rawabet Theatre, 9pm

100copies music brings live electronic music fusions to Rawabet, including Diamond Version (Alta Noto + Byetone), Bikya (Louca, Waly and Refat) and Wetrobots (Hoseny and El-Sherbini), with an opening set by DJ Zuli. The project Ten Cities teams up about 50 DJs, producers and musicians from Berlin, Bristol, Johannesburg, Cairo, Kiev, Lagos, Lisbon, Luanda, Nairobi and Naples, enabling them to produce music together and exchange their knowledge about the club scenes in their countries. The project will also have a research element where researchers will work on essays and studies about the undocumented histories of those music scenes and their subcultures.

2 Hussein El-Meamar Street, off Mahmoud Bassiouni Street, beside the Townhouse Gallery, Downtown, Cairo

Localité: Collective Painting Exhibition at 6 Contemporary Arts

Curated by Aida Eltorie at 6 Contemporary Arts, the group's paintings spark questions about the relationship between the bustling urban cityscapes and the individuals who inhabit them. Featuring a series of multi-media collages by Malak El-Shazly, paintings by Nihal Wahby, and a joint painting project by Hanan El-Sheikh and Khaled Akl, this exhibition shines light on different interpretations of the city of Cairo. The exhibition runs until 16 May. Read our exhibition review here.

6 Contemporary Arts, 6 Salah El-Din Street, Zamalek, Cairo


 

Friday 17 May

Face the Vitrine installation in Mahmoud Bassiouny Shopfront, 5pm

Visual artist Ganzeer and media artist Yasmine Elayat's come together to put forward this shop window installation called Face the Vitrine on display for 30 days. It places a face in the vitrine, which is digitally programmed to follow passersby, opening conversations on privacy in a public space. Read more here.

11 Mahmoud Bassiouny Street, Downtown, Cairo

Adonis Band in Jesuite Culture Centre, 8pm

Hailing to Cairo from Beirut, Lebanon, Adonis band mixes rock and pop to produce a charming mix of music.

298 Port Said Street, Cleopatra, Alexandria

Caravan Festival's Donkey Parade: painted animals in various Cairo venues

90 fiberglass donkey artworks painted by 45 Egyptian and foreign artists headline the fifth annual Caravan Festival of the Arts, which aims to use art to promote peace and alleviate sectarian tension. Among these artists are some of Egypt's most prominent contemporary artists, including George Bahgoury, Mohamed Abla, and Khaled Hafez. For two weeks, these donkeys will pop up across Cairo at various venues, before moving to Europe in travelling public art exhibitions. Read our exhibition review here.

The donkeys will be exhibited until 25 May in the following locations:
Hotels: Four Seasons Hotel (First Residence and Nile Plaza), Kempinski Nile Hotel, Cairo Marriott Hotel, Sofitel El-Gezira.
Galleries: Picasso, Mashrabia, Gallery Misr, Zamalek Art Gallery, ArtTalks, Al-Masar, Safarkhan
Other: British Council, Community Services Association (Maadi), St John's Church, Cairo American College, American University in Cairo.

Saturday 18 May

Great Romantics at the Cairo Opera House, 8pm

Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hisham Gabr, joined by cellist Ayman El-Hanbouly, will perform works by great Romantic era composers: Rossini, Saint-Saens and Sibelius. Ayman El-Hanbouly is an Egyptian cellist with a repertoire of concerts given in Egypt, many European countries, and the USA. Gabr, an Egyptian conductor and composer, frequently performs in Egypt and internationally. Read more here.

Cairo Opera House, Main Hall, Zamalek, Cairo

Journey Around My Living Room: Visual Art Installation at Mashrabia

Armed with her camera, contemporary Egyptian artist Hala El-Koussy headed to the streets of downtown Cairo in the spring and summer of 2012, photographing the mundane details of daily life in the multi-layered neighbourhood. The result is an installation that occupies the entire space of Cairo's Mashrabia Gallery. The gallery is made up of various intertwining elements, photographs that capture the visual culture of the city, objects that complement the pictures, and a large wooden cabinet packed with objects normally found in Egyptian households, to name a few. The installation is like a portrait of downtown Cairo and takes visitors on a journey, as if around their own living rooms.

8 Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo

Macadi Nahhas & Eftekasat Band at El-Genaina Theatre, 8pm

Macadi Nahhas, a young singer and musician from Jordan who creates contemporary music rooted in Arabic classics, returns to Cairo to join local popular band Eftekasat. Read more about Macadi Nahhas here.

El-Genaina Theatre, Al-Azhar Park, Salah Salem Road, Cairo

Sunday 19 May

Multiple Kafka, exhibition opening at Arthropologie Gallery, 7pm

Czech artist Jiri Sliva will open his exhibition entitled "Multiple Kafka." The exhibition is part a several month long celebration, commemorating the 130th birth anniversary of iconic writer Franz Kafka. The exhibition will be open daily until 6 June, except Sundays from 10am to 3pm and from 5pm to 10pm.

13A Mohamed El-Maraashly Street, Zamalek, Cairo

Great Romantics at the Alexandria Opera House, 8pm

Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hisham Gabr, joined by cellist Ayman El-Hanbouly, will perform works by great Romantic era composers: Rossini, Saint-Saens and Sibelius. Ayman El-Hanbouly is an Egyptian cellist with a repertoire of concerts given in Egypt, many European countries, and the USA. Gabr, an Egyptian conductor and composer, frequently performs in Egypt and internationally. Read more here.

Alexandria Opera House (Sayed Darwish Theatre), 22 El-Horreya Road (formerly known as Fouad Street), El-Raml Station, Alexandria

Polish pianist at Manasterly Palace, 8pm

Mariola Cieniawa from Poland will play works by Mompou, Granados, Albeniz as well as Polish composers: Szymanowski and Paderewski. Cieniawa is the 1st prize winner of Karol Szymanowski Piano Competition (1983). She has also received several special prizes at other competitions such as International Piano Competition in Palm Beach, Florida - USA and International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Palma Majorca (Spain) etc. Read more here.

2 El-Malek El-Saleh Street, next to Nilometre, Manial, Roda

Solo Multimedia Show by Doa Aly at Townhouse Gallery

A multimedia project featuring a video series, drawings, sculpture and collage created by emerging Egyptian artist Doa Aly in the past three years will be held at Townhouse Gallery until 5 June. The exhibition, entitled "Desire, Deceit, and Difficult Deliveries," is based on four characters from the Roman poem "Metamorphoses" by Ovid: Narcissus, Hermaphroditus, Byblis and Myrrah. In this project, the artist examines the impact of desire and unrequited passion on these characters.

10 Nabrawy Street, off Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo

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