A promising additon to web-based Cairo guides

There is a new website that claims to be "The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital". Cairo360 looks indeed promising and is a welcome addition to the list of "guides" about Cairo. The reviews seem particularly well done and cover "off the beaten track" eateries as well.
It looks as if staying at home in the evening without feeling of having missed an opportunity gets harder and harder.

Western literature and music inspired by the Qur'an - Article

This interesting article appeared on the Egyptian Gazette few days ago. 

Movie Night at AUC Downtown Campus

ITACA presents "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" by Giuseppe Tornatore, one of the best Italian movies of all times, on Tuesday April 20, 2010 at 7:00 PM in Room 209 of the Falaki Building in AUC Tahrir Campus.
The movie will be in Italian language with English Subtitles and will be presented by Belle Gironda. Free entry.

A famous film director, Salvatore returns to his Sicilian native town after thirty years of absence. While modernity has now changed the town he used to know, Salvatore remembers his childhood at the Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, the local movie house, and its owner Alfredo. Released in 1988, the film re-evokes Italian life during the Fascist period and ponders on Italy's dramatic social change throughout the century. Through the life of an Italian emigrant, Giuseppe Tornatore writes a cinematic poem on the dialectics between the past and present, censorship and freedom.

Italian movie night at IIC

Tomorrow, Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM, the theatre of the Italian Cultural Institute will host the screening of the comedy "GENERAZIONE MILLE EURO" (2008), directed by Massimo Venier and starring Valentina Lodovini, Carolina Crescentini, Alessandro Tiberi, Francesca Inaudi, Paolo Villaggio.

Matteo, a 30-year-old man, is a University graduate and has a great talent for mathematics. Despite this, he can’t afford his living costs and the rent of the apartment he shares with his best friend Francesco. In a while, his life becomes a nightmare: he breaks up whit his girlfriend, is evicted and risks to be fired. The sudden arrival of Beatrice, a new flatmate who wants to become a teacher, and of Angelica who, besides being very beautiful is also the new Assistant Marketing Director in the office where Matteo works, will affect the course of events. Matteo is therefore obliged, for the first time, to think about his future and to make some choices.

Italian with English subtitles. Free entry.

WEEKLY AGENDA MUSIC Apr. 17 - Apr. 23, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010
- Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marcello Mottadelli with soloists Iman Mustafa (Soprano), Carmen Boi (Mezzo-Soprano), Francesco Anile (Tenor), Reda El Wakil (bass Baritone) & the A Capella Choir presents Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- El Dor El Awal (Mediterranean Jazz) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM
- Al-Ghouri Tannoura Dance Group at the Ghouri Caravansaray 8:30 PM
- Tony Kaldas (Arabic music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:00 PM
- El Mahatta (Contemporary Egyptian music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM
- National Arab Music Ensemble conducted by Selim Sahab at the Gomhouria Theatre, 8:00 PM

Sunday, April 18, 2010
- The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Chamber Orchestra (BACO) conducted by Sherif Mohie Eldin present works from Rota, Britten and Tchaikovsky in the Golden Hall of Mohamed Ali Palace, 8:00 PM
- Omar Khairat (Piano) recital in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Mohamed Hamdy (Clarinet) and David Hales (Piano) present music from Saint-Saens, Strauss, Brahms and Abdel Rehim in the Small Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Yehya Khalil (Classic Jazz) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM
- Takht Band (Egyptian music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM
- Bill Evenhouse (American Folk music) in the Sharjah Art Gallery of AUC New Cairo Campus, 5:00 PM
- El Ahlam Heritage Ensemble conducted by Ahlam Ahmed at the Ghomouria Theatre, 8:00 PM
- The Nubian Drums led by Intesar Abdel Fattah at the Ghouri Palace, 8:00 PM
- El-Nil Troupe for folk instruments (Folk music and songs) at Beit Al-Suheimi 8:00 PM
- Bashir (Nubian music) at the After8 Club, 10:00 PM

Monday, April 19, 2010
- Cairo Opera Orchestra conducted by Lisa Xanthopoulou present an evening of Dance Orchestral Tunes in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Iman Amin chamber music concert in the Small Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Jaafra (Arabic tribes from Aswan) at the Makan Centre, 9:00 PM
- Ziad and Zanfouly (Acoustic music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM
- Bikya (Electronic and Trip Hop) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30
- Wust El Balad (Modern oriental and jazz fusion) at the After8 Club, 10:00 PM
- Al-Ghouri Tannoura Dance Group at the Ghouri Caravansaray 8:30 PM

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
- Digla Band (Acoustic Rock) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM
- Shafiq Kotry (Rock) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:00 PM
- Kas wa Laz2 (Contemporary Egyptian music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30
- Nass Makan (Nubian music, Zikr and Sufi songs, Sudanese music and songs) at the Makan Centre 9:00 PM
- DJ Dina El Ghareeb at After8, 10:00 PM

Wednesday, April 21, 2010
- The Egyptian Philarmonic Society conducted by Ahmed El Saedi with soloist Federico Mondelci (Italy/saxophone) present music from Piazzolla and Molinelli in the Ewart Memorial Hall of AUC Downtown Campus, 8:00 PM Cancelled

- Mazaher Ensemble (Music of the Delta) at the Makan Centre 9:00 PM
- Al-Ghouri Tannoura Dance Group at the Ghouri Caravansaray 8:30 PM
- Sodfa Band & Akhawat (Contemporary Egyptian music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM
- DJ Selim (Boogie Night) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM
- DJ Doody at After8, 10:00 PM

Thursday, April 22, 2010
- Coparck (Netherlands) at the Geneina Theatre in Al Azhar Park, 8:00 PM
- Leonard de Leonard (France/Techno Hip Hop) at the CFCC in Mounira, 10:30 PM
- Fathy Salama’s Sharkiat and Luxor Break Beats in the Open Air Theatre of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Basata Band (Contemporary Egyptian music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM
- Egoz (Rock’n’Roll) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM
- Sahra (Rai music) at the After8 Pub, 10:00 PM


Friday, April 23, 2010
- Abdel Halim Nowera Ensemble for Arab Music in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Salalem (Arabic music) at the After8 Pub, 10:00 PM
- Haytham Nabil (Arabic music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM

- Ahmed Said (Vocals) and Sayed Mansour (Oud) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM

- The Percussion Show at the Geneina Theatre in Al Azhar Park, 8:00 PM

- DJ Ramsi (Funky House) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM

EL GENEINA THEATRE 2010 Summer Opening

The Summer Season of the Geneina Theatre starts tonight Thursday, April 15, 2010 with a concert of the Tunisian Jazz star Dhafer Youssef  (Oud and Vocals) while tomorrow Friday, April 16 will be the turn of the local band Wust El Balad.
Concerts start at 8:00 PM.

2010 Indipendent Theatre Season

The 3rd annual Indipendent Theatre season will start officially on Sunday April 18, 2010 at the Rawabet Theatre in Downtown Cairo (off Champollion St., next to the Townhouse Gallery) and will run until August 2 with several productions on stage.
The season is due to start with El-Ghagar troupe's show "Sho'oub Mosta'amala" ("Used Nations") but I read conflicting reports on the media. I believe the best bet is to call El-Hanager Arts Center at (02) 27356861 for information and programme.
If any of the readers can provide me with a link for the programme of the season or of its individual productions, even if in Arabic only, I will be happy to post it.

For an article about the opening of the season on Al Masry Al Youm, click here.