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Egyptian Music
 A
decade ago during my first trip to Egypt, I purchased
entire shelves of music tapes – because I was in need of
a large amount of souvenirs. It was the best and most
successful souvenir buying of my life. Because of that
huge success, I repeated my »Operation Noise Maker«
again and again, year after year. And the success
continues. The best idea was to buy a tape by Egyptian pop
singer Mohamed Mounir. He mixes Nubian, Egyptian and
Western sounds in a way that is very pleasant for Western
ears, too – and, even more convenient, this diligent
musician produces a new tape every year or so. In one
action, I was able to remove five persons from that
everlasting bothersome souvenir list, alhamdulillah! I
only have to give them the latest Mohamed Mounir album,
that's all, very easy! They have subscribed to that
souvenir service.
 Egyptian music tapes are also the ideal gift for the
‘home aloners.’ They are cheap, available in a wide,
if not wild, range of styles and genres, their interesting
covers look exotic because of the Arabic letters and they
go through customs as a very politically correct gift,
giving you the image of nothing less than being an
ambassador between the cultures. What can you want? And,
if it is the price and not the inherent value of a gift,
which is important for your people, then bring them a CD
instead of a tape.
 Music
tapes make the best souvenirs for yourself, too. After
traveling two or three weeks through Egypt, sooner or
later you will have the desire to preserve the timbre of
life which is surrounding you the whole day, and music is,
without any doubt, an important part of this. With music
tapes, you can buy the soundtrack to your trip to Egypt,
to some of the most fascinating memories in your life.
Wherever you listen to music, in the tour bus, the taxi,
in cafeterias or a friend's flat, don't forget to ask
someone to write down the tape and singer's name in
Arabic. To get the tape later you only have to show the
paper to the salesclerk.
The best place in Cairo for buying music tapes is
certainly the Shawarby Street downtown, a pedestrian
precinct between Quasar Al-Nil and Abd Al-Khaliq Sarwat
Street, with shops for cheap clothes  and
cut-rate perfume, shoe kiosks and plastic toy vendors –
and with a large number of small stores for music tapes,
videotapes and CDs. For between LE 6 and LE 10 ($ 1.70–$
2.80) you can get latest Egyptian pop releases by Amr Diab
or Mohamed Mounir as well as a large selection of classics
by the famous Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum or by the
legendary Farid Al-Attrash. A very special way to remember
your vacation is to listen to the tapes of famous Qur'an
reciting, as for example the recordings of the
incomparable Mohamed Gabriel, Egypt's contemporary
superstar in this field. Beside this the shops offer a
great choice of cheap tapes with Western music (LE 8=$
2.30), from Led Zeppelin to the Spice Girls, from hip hop
to techno or even the indestructible Saturday Night Fever
sound.
 If
you are in need for Arabic wrestling videos or
"Titanic" and "Rambo" with Arabic
subtitles or for some of the wonderful Egyptian
black-and-white vintage movies, then the Shawarby Street
is your place, too. CD's, although available, are best
purchased in shops like »Jukebox«, the biggest CD-store
in town. They have always around 20.000 CD's in stock,
Western as well as a decent selection of Arabic
recordings, but be prepared to pay Western prices there.
For an overview of Egyptian Music, see the Tour Egypt
Special Edition, Seven
Millennia of Performance. Additionally, the Virtual
Khan el-Khalili has Egyptian music online.
Shawarby Street, between Kasr Al-Nil and Abd Al-Khalig
Sarwat Street. The shops open around 10:00 am (except on
Fridays: 14:00 pm) and close around 10:00 pm.
»Jukebox«. Second floor of the World Trade Center
Shopping Mall (next to CONRAD International Hotel).
Corniche Al-Nil 1191. Bulaq, Cairo. Telephone: 57 82 980.
Working Hours: daily 11:00 am to 10:00 pm
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