Disco Arabesquo

Some compilations are clearly a labour of love. That’s certainly the case with Sharayet El Disco, a superb collection curated by Amsterdam-based Egyptian DJ Disco Arabesquo (real name Moataz Rageb). It dips into his ever-expanding collection of hard-to-find Egyptian disco and boogie cassettes released between 1982 and ’92, offering up a selection of colourful dance tracks that frequently add Arabic vocals and instrumentation to authentic, American style disco and boogie grooves. Highlights are plentiful, from the stomping disco surge of Afaf Rady’s ‘Tany Tany’ and the glossy, fretless bass-sporting synth-pop of ‘Merci’ by Simone, to the low-slung Arabic synth-funk of Frikit El Azdeqaa’s ‘Eqleb El Sheret’, and the dreamy boogie brilliance of Americana Show’s ‘Yom Wi Lilah’.