By most standards, what makes a DJ stand out beyond his skills behind the decks is curation. The rarer the track, the better the set; entire careers can be built off a catalog only a few even know about, let alone have access to. And with the nostalgia wheel spinning quicker than usual in recent years, crate-digging has become something of a sport—a practice that rewards those willing to spend time sifting through dusty archives, forgotten pressings, and overlooked corners of the internet in search of something no one else has played yet.
Holland-based selector DJ Disco Arabesquo (born Moataz Rageb) is of those that will walk the extra mile to stay ahead, while also pulling past sounds back into the present. With a wide variety of tracks plucked from long-forgotten Egyptian disco and other Middle Eastern tapes, his selections serve as a bridge between different decades; and his latest release continues on that same path.
Dubbed AYAM EL DISCO, the newly released project brings together eight years’ worth of cassette digging, per the artist’s statement, compiling a little over 10 tracks sourced entirely from Egypt, most of them leaning into disco, boogie, and early jeel sounds that defined the North African country’s iconic cassette era.
“During this search I travelled and looked for rare cassette-tapes, found a few, borrowed and exchanged some with other collectors, lost a bunch when the cassette-tape decided to break down, but gladly archived and digitized most,” Arabesquo explains in a recently shared press release.
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“The tracks on Ayam El Disco all originated in Egypt with some disco influences, but also with an early ‘90’s (proto) ‘Jeel’ sound – an Egyptian ‘90’s genre which translates to ‘generation,’ coined by the legendary Cairo-based Libyan singer and producer Hamied el Shaeri. This genre would later fuel Egypt’s 2000-era pop music. But more importantly, this selection showcases a few of my favorite and unique sounds from a memorable era, some nostalgic to an Egyptian ear and some more obscure to any ear. Taken together, they tell the stories of a generation that paid homage to Arab musical heritage while looking independently for their own new sound,” he added.
His fourth official release — after Sharayet El Disco (2022), Maha — Orkos (2022), and Nagat El Saghira — Oyoun el Alb (2023) — AYAM EL DISCO features 11 tracks from 11 different artists spanning the late ’70s through to the early ’90s. Including the likes of legendary Egyptian-Libyan singer and songwriter Hamid El Shaeri, chaâbi icon Ahmed Adaweya, as well as pioneering funk band Al Massrieen, the compilation brings together a cast of names that defined — and at times even reshaped — the sound of their times, not just locally, but across the wider region and even beyond.
Available exclusively on vinyl since April 3, 2026, AYAM EL DISCO also marks the first time many of these tracks have been digitized, breathing new life into sounds that once only moved from hand to hand, tape to tape, across Egypt’s homes, streets, and airwaves.
