Sure, securing a pair of limited-edition sneakers is cool I guess, but personally, I don’t think anything tops the feeling of walking out of a record store after you’ve dug in all its crates, with that one vinyl gem that you’ve been trying to find for ages in hand. In the age of digital everything, there is something so special about holding a musical creation in your hands, taking it home, and adding it to an ever-growing collection that you will cherish forever.
Although you are constantly inhaling dust and mold and consistently bumping into strangers who are on the same digging journey as you, nothing beats losing yourself in a record store, in a foreign city, with a bunch of fresh new finds. Not to mention the sense of togetherness you feel when you enter a record store, in a time when everything seems to be polarized and divided, there is something so gravitationally organic about hanging out in a shared space filled with music lovers and savants.
Even if you don’t end up purchasing something, the ritual of standing and flipping through a bin or crate is therapeutic and wholesome in itself. And sometimes it’s not just about the records, it’s the experience as a whole– from the soundtrack the record store owner has picked to heighten your digging experience, the music memorabilia, and the rarest music magazines that you never thought you could get your hands on (it happened to me when I picked up that one Wax Poetics issue with jazz-legend Idris Muhammad on the cover– a Eureka moment).
Below, some of our favorite record stores in the region to get lost in.
Records Zaman, Agadir, Morocco
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The first record store in Agadir, Morocco opened in 1967 by Mr. Ahmed Aqdim. It was initially called Sawt Al-Rachad when Aqdim decided to transform the-then library into a store where he sold a wide range of vinyls and cassettes that spanned from Amazigh, Arabic, Indian, and European sounds. After years of preserving artistic heritage, the founder of the store sadly passed away in 2017. As his rightful heir, his son Amine Qadim took over the family enterprise in 2018, continuing his father and the store’s legacy.
“I have been serving a useful resource to those searching for inspiration, help and advice. I finally decided to own this role in 2018 and be intentional about it, so I began writing about my feelings, thoughts, and strange questions about the world, especially in the field of music,” Qadim told Mille. “Then my job was to finish what my father had started to give others an idea of what was on my mind and inside the store, and the dissemination of Moroccan music in particular and North African music in general.”
Mazzika Zaman, Cairo, Egypt
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A record store dating back to 1981, Mazzika Zaman, is now owned by Hamada Mazzika, the successor to his mentor, Samir Mazzika, who carried on his legacy after his death. Located in the heart of Zamalek on the third floor of the Metro Tower, this store boasts an impressive record collection that surpasses 25,000 records. The shop offers access to all kinds of musical sounds and genres, ranging from Arabic music to rock, jazz, blues, soul, funk, R&B, folk, country, classical music, and even personal recordings between people.
Eddisco, Tunis
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As the only record store in Tunis, Eddisco is a rare gem in Tunisia’s capital city. Eddisco opened up its doors in 2018 as an appointment-only record store. Today it is operated by some of Tunisia’s local promoters and DJ’s Downtown Vibes, which is an underground artistic collective led by Hamdi Ryder, Aymen Ghannoudi, Ghassen Yahyaoui, and Yassine Hammar. You should definitely head there if you’re looking to dig up some Tunisian and Arabic tunes, as well as house and techno records.
Darsko, Beirut, Lebanon
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Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of music due to years of crate digging and research, musical legend Ernesto Chahoud took it upon himself to open up an appointment-only joint to share some of his finds, after not having enough space for them. In 2019 he told Vinyl Factory, “The idea of having Darsko rose out of necessity. I had no place to store my records, and to buy more records I had to sell some.”
Situated in northern Beirut, the store was once Chahoud’s grandfather’s shoe factory, which he transformed into a musical library. The record store is keeping the spirit of music alive by presenting an opportunity for people to explore the long, lost, and forgotten tales in music that stem from the MENA region.
