Cairo Jazz Festival 2014 Preview

The annual Cairo Jazz Festival is back this year with an impressive lineup of talented international acts and regional stars for what’s shaping up to be an incredible four days in March at Al Azhar Park.

Headlining the festivities are Egypt’s Massar Egbari on Thursday Mar. 13, Morocco’s OUM on Friday Mar. 14, Lebanon’s Mashrou’ Leila on Saturday Mar. 15 and the legend himself Omar Khairat on Sunday Mar. 16.

Egyptian acts include Dina El Wedidi, Noha Fekry, Arabian Knightz, Arab Rap All Stars, USS w Lazq, Soopar Lox, Madina and the Rami Atalla Group.

Also featured are the Jakub Urban Trio (Czech Republic), Kaz Okumura Trio feat. Michelle Rounds (Japan/Australia), VEIN (Switzerland), Holler My Dear (Austria), Sylvain Beuf Electric Eccentric (France), Soweto Kinch (UK), Daerr-Bica-Stick (Germany), Yuri Honing 4tet (Holland), Nabil Khemir (Tunis) and the Andre Carvalho Group (Portugal).

Check the above links for event details. You can also find the full lineup and daily schedule here and get your tickets through Ticketsmarche.

And if you’re a musician yourself, don’t miss out on this special opportunity to learn from and work with some of the accomplished festival artists, including freestyle extraordinaire Soweto Kinch, who’ll be doing two rap workshops, Sylvian Beuf, who’s holding a saxophone master class, Egypt’s Fathy Salama, who’s teaching two music workshops and VEIN, who are leading a piano master class. Contact cairojazzfest@gmail.com for more details.

Excited yet? We definitely are. Now prepare yourself for Mar. 13-16 with this trailer by VIBE Studios of what’s to come:

WE SAID THIS: Stay tuned for our interview with musician Amro Salah, the mastermind behind CJF.