Tips from the culture desk: Cartoons, sun, sand, music and India

Ongoing events include Al-Ahram's Visual Memory exhibition, showing a part of its massive art collection, Setarah Shahbazi’s Binary is a False Idol at Gypsum Gallery, exploring photoshop and photography in a big selection of strikingly bright prints, and Chronic: On psychological exhaustion as a public state at the Contemporary Image Collective.

Also, the international Drumming and Traditional Arts Festival continues through Monday, and the well-regarded 18th Ismailia Film Festival for short and documentary films continues through Tuesday.

But Sham al-Nassim comes with its own breezy arts events, and we recommend a couple of them here - plus an interesting cartoon exhibition.

India by the Nile Festival - until May 7

Spanning two weeks and four governerates (Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Beni Suef) the Embassy of India in Egypt and Teamwork Arts, which hosts Indian festivals around the world, presents their fourth festival in Egypt. India by the Nile celebrates classical music, dance, theater, visual art, film, food and literature and initiates collaborative exchange between Egyptian and Indian artists. It succeeds each year in attracting thousands to the Cairo Opera House grounds, where the main festivities take place. Among the highlights of the program are Love Story: A Bollywood Musical , showing at the Cairo Opera House and the Alexandria Opera House, photography exhibition Colors of Life at Hanager, and performance by Indian Ocean rock band in all four cities. But you should also make time for the food.

Find the full program here.

Invisible Hands concert - Tuesday

Singing in Arabic and English the psychedelic rock band Invisible Hands have had their drummer missing in recent shows so this will be the first (and last) chance to catch them as a full group before they head to their European tour in May. Also, the setting of Darb’s rooftop concerts is perfect for early summer nights. The Invisible Hands includes the versatile and charismatic Alan Bishop (vocals, bass, acoustic guitar), Aya Hemeda (unusually performative vocals), Cherif El-Masri (vocals, electric guitar, bass), Adham Zidan (vocals, organ) and Morgan Mikkelsen (drums). They came together in 2011 and have produced two albums, an eponymous one and one called Teslam.

What we’ve said about them: “I recall their sound to be something like a psychedelic journey through indie folk-rock arrangements and the sinister playground of experimental vocal choruses and sounds.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=psceTtEtxa8

8 pm, April 26 on Darb 1718’s rooftop at Kasr al-Shamaa Street, Hay al-Fokhareen, Old Cairo. Reserve tickets here.

Alexander Sarokhan’s Political Comedy - until Saturday

Al Masar Gallery is presenting an exhibition of the prolific Armenian-Egyptian, Russian-born, Europe-educated cartoonist Alexander Sarokhan (1898–1977). Political Comedy includes a diversity of rarely-shown drawings and watercolors of political scenes in Egypt (see image above). Sarokhan, who arrived in Egypt in 1924, made work - much of it anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and full of curves and movement - for many Egyptian publications and he also published books and magazines himself. This should be worth a visit.

157 B, 26th of July Street, Ground floor, Zamalek, Cairo. Open Saturday – Thursday. 11 am – 9 pm, ends April 30.

Two music festivals

Music festivals are utopic spaces where new friendships and self-discoveries are often made. At the very least, you have a few hundred people to dance and sleep near in a camp where the shared commodities are fun, food and music. This week, there’s two of them.

There’s 3alganoob starting on Friday for four days, and if you want the sea and the option of a bit of luxury (they have chalets), you should head to Marsa Alam. Activities include introductory dives, snorkeling with dolphins, desert trips and jam sessions (bring an instrument ). The line-up isn't fully announced yet, but big-name musician Fathy Salama and Ayman Sidky will be heading a music workshop. Prices 750 - 3000 (plus transport), buy tickets here.

Meanwhile, Oshtoora looks bigger, better and more Burning-Man-like than ever before. Here’s eight reasons why, if you can afford it, you should consider it.

1.)  The videos: Working with film directors and production company SUZY WAS HERE, Oshtoora has been producing immersive documentation films and music videos of the bands performing in the festival.

2.)  Fayoum. Last year’s Oshtoora was plagued by a brutal wind storm. This year it has moved to Fayoum, keeping the desert atmosphere, but without the windy sea. An artists’ destination with stunning natural beauty, it still does have water.

3.)  Self-development. For ambitiously active folk, there’s yoga, interactive performances, darbuka sessions with composer Akram Al Sherif, environmental walks with Damya Journeys, and the first edition of the Grand Oshtooric Olympics where teams will challenge each other in a series of events in the vast desert of Qarun Protectorate.

4.)  Art: With visual artist Bassem Yousri curating, the art at last year’s Oshtoora was sparse but powerful, including an installation by Aya Tarek. This year Yousri has been even more ambitious. Sedky Sakhir collaborates with Ain Bicycles to present an interactive installation combining engineering and music, while Yanone’s Sun Gate promises to be bigger and better than its debut in a Psytrance party in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains.

5.)  This year’s festival has added a much larger array of performing arts including the raucous clownings of Outa Hamra and the hip hop breakdance combo of Swaggers Crew. Coming back again to this year’s Oshtoora are the larger-than-life El Kousha Puppets with their fantastically trippy costumes.

6.)  Zawya is screening Leila Bouzid’s As I Open My Eyes at Oshtoora, and it’s perfectly suited for a music festival in the middle of the Sahara desert. Following a fictional pre-revolutionary Tunisian band named Joujma, its score is by Khyam Allami, known for his band Alif and Nawa Recordings. (Here’s our review.)

7.)  Vendors: Last year’s Oshtoora was a bit weak when it came to food options. This year, they’ve beefed up the vendors to include Ma7ali with fresh produce and deli meats with a twist, The Greek with gyros from the land of Zorba, Baladini with fresh pizza and pasta baked right in front of you, Fasa7et Somaya with home-cooked meals and Gringos Burrito Grill with killer burritos.

8.)  This year’s Oshtoora includes a rare chance to see two exciting electronic acts: Hello Pyschaleppo infectious electronic tarab, and El Wa3 Na3 Na3’s (of Metro al Madina venue in Beirut) masterfully sourced dance music sets of regional electronic tracks and remixes. And Mehdi Nassouli from Morocco will hopefully be importing their trance inducing Gnawa culture.

Ticket options include concert passes for a single evening at LE265, 24-hour day passes for LE450, all the way up to LE1450 per inclusive ticket.