Tuesday March 19th, 2024
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This Rooftop Arts Hub Is Changing the Coffee-Date Culture in Cairo

Instead of going out with your friends to have coffee or stuff your face with whatever is trending this month, you can now go enjoy live music and mellow, relaxed nights.

Staff Writer

So, in all of our favourite movies there’s always this scene where the guy prepares this picturesque candle-lit dinner for the girl on this amazing New York rooftop, complete with pretty bean bags, carpets, and twinkle lights. Turns out we have one of those right here in Cairo –well, minus the guy and the fancy dinner.

In the suburbs of New Maadi lies Yellow Umbrella, a rooftop arts hub with tales to tell around every corner within the cosy space. There's something for your eyes to absorb everywhere you look, from quotes on the walls to splashes of colour on the ground; it all adds to the general aesthetic and feel-good vibe of the place. The rooftop offers live music and entertainment, karaoke nights, workshops, game nights, and TV show/film marathons.Danny Malak is one of the numerous local artists who are a staple at Yellow Umbrella, so, now instead of going out with your friends to have coffee or stuff your face with whatever is trending this month, you can now go enjoy live music and mellow, relaxed nights rather than a lengthy receipt and stiff restaurant seats. Yellow Umbrella also encourages new talents, so you might just want to call up your old high school band members for a surprise reunion.
“After college, I didn’t feel happy with my job, so I went on a Eurotrip and carried around a yellow umbrella to take pictures with at all the major attractions, you know, like in How I Met Your Mother. I was inspired by all the events I saw during my trip, especially the ones on the rooftops like Eurofest in Berlin. When I got home, I started to search for rooftops to open my own cultural, entertainment hub where you can have a good time and relax among the people you love and not just sit in another café,” founder Mary Sherif tells us.

We also found out that calligraphy workshops are in the works as well as an exhibition for Inktober, at the end of the month, where artists who joined the challenge can show off their work.

So, if you’re an up-and-coming musician looking to showcase your skills, or you happen to fancy the idea of a F.R.I.E.N.D.S marathon, check out Yellow Umbrella’s Facebook page. We know we'll be visiting on karaoke nights.