In much of the world, the colonial encounter has played a pivotal role in the creation of modernity (Mitchell 2000). In the realm of musical practices, these periods of encounter contained negotiations in which players sought to demonstrate both a national identity and a cosmopolitan, often viewed as European, modernity. Over the past 150 years, Arab music in Egypt has undergone major changes in terms of performance practice, genre, and musical instruments, many of which relate to European colonialism. Among the most significant of these changes has been the introduction and establishment of the violin as one of Arab music's principle instruments. Adopted from Europeans in the second half of the 19th century, the violin came gradually to dominate the large music ensembles (firqat pl. firaq) of the mid 20th century, and now features more prominently in contemporary popular music recordings than Arab instruments. Beyond merely creating changes in sound itself, the violin provided and continues to form a bridge between European and Arab music, visually and symbolically linking Egypt to the Europe. Based on over a year of ethnographic fieldwork (2005, 2008-2009) in Cairo, as well as historical research on past performers and media, I argue that the violin acts as a key instrument within Egypt's formal and informal modernity projects in the 20th and 21st centuries, as described by authors such as Walter Armbrust (1996, 2000). Violin players and composers describe the potential of the violin as a site for musical development and exploration, a characterization that parallels the use of the violin in songs and films. The violin's discursive connection to the "local" and tradition on the one hand, as well as the "modern" and Europe on the other, makes it a powerful tool in the creation of a cosmopolitan present linked with the past. My ethnographic work shows how the instrument's use by players and composers continues to mirror and forward the production of modernity in postcolonial Egypt.