A new electronic music concept specialized in Melodic & Techno House genre bringing both happy & dark elements by Global & Local talents. We are talking about Melodic Room in Cairo, Egypt. A party concept not to missed when visiting the country.
We had a chat with one of the members to see how they run the show.
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Hey Ahmed,
How is it going? Let’s have a chat about nightlife in Egypt. How much does it differ from the rest of the world?
Egypt has been always the hub for nightlife in the Middle East, The Electronic music scene started in Egypt in 1997 by bringing trance DJs to Cairo such as Judge Jules, Tiesto and Marco V. Also Club nights such as Gate Crasher, Ministry of Sound and Cub IT, and underground artists such as Sander Kleinenberg, Satoshi Tomie and John Kelly. The scene quickly developed and expanded in other cities such as Alexandria, Sharma el-Sheikh and Hurghada, We started to have international Clubs such as Pacha, Ministry of Sound, little Buddha etc.
In how much, do you feel, is the club experience shaped by cultural differences?
I have visited many clubs in many cities around the world. Everyone shares the same love and passion for music. There are small differences between countries, for example, it is always nice to tip the bouncers in Amsterdam when you leave the club, in other cities you don’t have to. Also, clubbers in East-Europe are less open to talking to strangers than west Europeans. Italian men are not usually comfortable when you are talking to any women in their group so you need to be careful with that. I believe that this is the same in Egypt.
Italian men are not usually comfortable when you are talking to any women in their group so you need to be careful with that. I believe that this is the same in Egypt.
Do you, when travelling, take these cultural differences into consideration – and in how far has your approach as a DJ perhaps even benefited from playing in different countries and in front of different crowds?
Yes, I always read about clubbing culture before visiting any city. It is always safer to ask if you have any confusion. It is also important to understand the line up very well and arrange your music accordingly. The DJ is there to serve the crowd and bring them together. Any change in music mode or genre leads to crowd dissatisfaction.
You organize your own nights, Melodic Room. Please tell us about it. What makes it special?
The addition we add is diversity in Electronic music, it’s what makes us special, our Melodic Room is a theme-based event that occurs biweekly in Cairo. We have two themes, one is Black and one is White. Black is for people that are more interested in deep, dark emotional Melodic Techno & House and White serves the more cheerful part of the crowd with the Happy progressive sounds we add.
We deliver quality and only quality, we care about our crowd: their comfort, their enjoyment of the day and the music we deliver to their ears.
Is it a returning concept you are using? Something recognizable maybe changes to the interior.
We leave out our interior to the very own internal visual jockey that plays with the visuals and makes them all aligned with our themed days. The whole idea revolves around the concept for White days, happy colours are only allowed and in Black days only dark deep colours are allowed
Why should people visit? Sell it!
We always invite the best underground producers from the Melodic house and Techno Genre. Our artist selection is not based on how famous they are only but also on the quality of sound they produce. Our Club night is very premium, however, we sell our tickets with the regular price. We have an online application for door selection. We always ensure that only like-minded clubbers enter our event.
We work on our customer’s experience by having the best visuals, sound system & light system that can be offered and that can only fit our night owls.
We are also making a brand here, not only an event that happens every two weeks but also a brand that is there for life, a team that offers his best and music that on goes on our soon to be launched channels. You become one of us.
Are you spinning records yourself during your nights?
Yes, I do. But also we like to give a chance to many local talents we have over here. The plan is that each DJ plays only once per season including myself.
What can we expect from Melodic Room in the near future?
We are planning to make Melodic Room a record label. We will release only 2 albums per year, one Black Edition and one White Edition. Each album will include one track of artists we work with. Also, we are planning to take the brand to other countries such as Dubai, Lebanon, Jordan and finally a showcase in ADE.
Please recommend two DJs to our readers which you feel deserve their attention. Who should be on our radar music-wise — who is getting you really excited so they might play at your Melodic Room club nights?
Honestly, it wouldn’t be fair to mention only 2 DJs. There are many great talents in the market. But, there are some DJs who are very special to us because we have been following them since their first track such as Alexander Alaar, Baime, Dizharmonia, Erly Tepshi, Lunar Plane and Rafael Cerato.
Thank you.