Egyptian composer Fathy Salama’s Sharkiat and Algerian singer Karima Nayt are due to headline the final night of the Cairo International Jazz Festival on Saturday, 7 November 2026. The festival’s official programme lists the set for 9:45 p.m. local time on the Garden Stage at the American University in Cairo’s Tahrir Square campus. Earlier that day, a separate festival discussion will consider what generative tools could mean for musicians and the way they work.

This is the 18th edition of the festival. EUNIC Egypt lists the main dates as 5–7 November and identifies Cairo and Alexandria as host cities. CAI Edit’s 6 November preview also identifies the Sharkiat collaboration as the closing act, with Guido Spannocchi, Xavi Torres, Manuel Linhares and Bächlin & Elkholy among the other acts on the final evening. Individual venue and stage details are listed in the festival programme.

A collaboration with a history

The organiser’s notes describe Salama as a composer, arranger, producer and pianist who formed Sharkiat in 1988. They trace Nayt’s work in Cairo through dance at the Egyptian Opera House and through her work with Salama’s group, including the album Wahdani. Saturday’s billing therefore brings together collaborators with a shared body of work, as well as representing two countries on the same stage.

That history gives the set a different point of interest from a festival appearance by artists meeting for the first time. A listener familiar with the earlier work can hear how a singer and an ensemble approach the material in a live setting. A newcomer can use the performance as an introduction to the collaboration and then explore the recordings. The published billing confirms who is due to play. It gives audiences a starting point for discovering the music before the set itself is heard.

A discussion before the concert

The festival’s fringe schedule puts an AI and music discussion at 3 p.m. in Hall 602 of the Hill House at AUC Tahrir Square. Composer and musician Sherif Nour is listed as the moderator. The festival describes the event as free with registration and frames it around the effect of fast generative tools on music and creative decisions.

The timing makes it possible to see the discussion and the evening programme as two parts of the same question about creative work. In a production workflow, a draft may help someone test a mood or communicate a reference. A finished recording involves other decisions about arrangement, performance, credits and how the work will be used. A panel can make those decisions visible to audiences who ordinarily encounter only the finished song or performance.

For musicians working with film and other media, one practical issue is how a brief moves from a reference to something collaborators can revise together. A filmmaker may want a cue that responds to an edit, leaves space for dialogue or changes as a scene develops. How the musicians and editors communicate those needs can matter as much as the time it takes to generate an initial idea. These are questions the subject raises for screen work, rather than conclusions from a panel that is still scheduled to take place.

The fringe programme also lists an Arifa performance and open jam for experienced musicians at Bayt Yakan at 7 p.m. on Saturday, and a registered Bächlin & Elkholy workshop on Sunday at the Goethe-Institut. That Sunday session is listed separately from the 5–7 November main festival dates. The different formats give audiences ways to engage as listeners, participants or people learning how a collaboration is made.

RIM’s coverage of Toumani Diabaté’s Héritage project examined how a recorded collaboration can carry a musical relationship forward. The Cairo programme puts related questions in front of a live audience, with a performance by established collaborators and space to discuss how new work gets made.

*Illustration — AI-generated conceptual artwork about jazz performance and sound.*

Why this matters

Cairo’s final day puts Egyptian and Algerian artists at the centre of a programme that also includes international acts and opportunities to learn. For musicians and screen producers in Africa and the diaspora, the day offers two ways to think about creative practice. The concert draws on a longstanding working relationship, while the panel makes room to discuss how new tools might affect decisions about the work.

Sources

Topics: Cairo · Jazz · Fathy Salama · Karima Nayt · Music production

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