What It’s Like To… Be the Custodian of Vinyl Music in Cairo
Hazem Hossam and Mira Amin have created a unique music and community space in the heart of Cairo’s El Maadi neighborhood.
Amuna WagnerAmunaWagnerCairo-Based North Africa Correspondent
While Yellow Tape Records & Culture mostly operates in the analog space, they sometimes share DJ sets from their events and video sessions online.courtesy of Yellowtape Records.
If you’re visiting Egypt and ask your Cairene friends for recommendations off the beaten path, chances are they’ll send you to Yellow Tape Records & Culture. Nestled in between residential villas in the beautiful neighborhood of El Maadi, the independent record shop and cultural hub has become one of the few third spaces where people can gather and create on their own terms.
Founded by Hazem Hossam, who runs it with his partner and fellow DJ and music collector Mira Amin, Yellow Tape Records & Culture is where people dig for vinyl records, learn about music production, dance away the night or do yoga on the roof. In the past six years, the couple have become beacons of a community in Cairo that values intentional listening and intimate, safe dancefloors.
In segments edited for length and clarity, Amin and Hossam share their journey of building one of Cairo’s most beloved third spaces, the difficulties of keeping it alive and relevant, and the memories they have made over the years.
Amin and Hossam playing back to back at the Yellow Tape Records & Culture Box at Sandbox Festival in 2026.courtesy of Yellowtape Records.
Hazem Hossam: My father passed away when I was fourteen. When I went through his stuff, I found a bag of records and an old turntable. I started following his footsteps and added to his collection, buying from abroad and smuggling some records every time I travelled.
Yellow Tape started out as an independent shop in a small apartment during covid in 2020. We’d invite people to come and dig, do some video sessions, and promoted the music that we like. We activated the mindset of collecting records in Egypt. Now we have moved into a bigger place to do what we actually wanted to do: be a music and cultural hub with multiple rooms, different wellness and music production classes, and bigger parties. I wouldn’t have done this without Mira, she’s the backbone of this place, because she had the media, marketing and recording knowledge.
Yellow Tape Records & Culture has become a place for the community to meet regardless of whether they are digging for records.courtesy of Yellowtape Records.
Mira Amin: We’d just become partners when we started Yellow Tape; I was 22 and Hazem was 25. In the very beginning it was wonderful to create something together, but as our relationship progressed the challenges materialized. You have to have a specific mindset to not let your personal and professional life interfere and neither of us had that mindset. We just kept trying and six years later, I can look back and say that it does workout.
Hossam: I’m against the stereotype that you shouldn’t work with your partner. We had to go through a lot of arguments in the beginning, but it was all for the greater good. And a lot of local musicians were very excited to have this first electronic record shop, because everyone used to buy records abroad. So we weren’t growing this place alone. It’s a home for everyone.
Yellow Tape Records & Culture has expanded into wellness and community activities.courtesy of Yellowtape Records.
Hossam: A typical day starts with operations and making sure that all our tenants are comfortable. We have a thrift shop and café right next to us, and also started working with an event company. In the afternoon, we do the physical work like cataloguing new records and fixing up the equipment.
Amin: We also host people! We get a lot of visitors, primarily for records, but we’re also a social checkpoint in the greater map of Maadi and people pass by on their way home from work.
Hossam: Before, we didn’t have a team and used to just clean up the place…
Amin: …we’d come in and get distracted all day until the day is over.
Hossam: Did we expect it to be this demanding? No. We thought we’d have a small place with a small community.
Amin: I kind of envisioned more of an art gallery that has music sometimes and some records. But the pace is much faster than that, because we operate throughout the whole year. Looking back I can’t see how it could have unfolded in any other way.
Hossam: I love seeing the smile on people’s faces when they come and feel at home. When we reopen after closing for the summer, they tell us that they missed it. And it makes me happy that we’re the go-to for anything records related. Whenever someone has a party, they call us to make sure the set-up is right.
Amin: People ask us why we don’t have an online catalog. The whole point is for you to physically come, hold the record and get familiar with it. It’s not very popular in the world of electronic music to have this physical, tangible relationship with the music.
Hossam: We’re very keen on creating a bond with the people. Come try the digging experience and get your hands dirty, even if you’re not going to buy anything. It’s not an experience that Egyptians are familiar with.
“We activated the mindset of collecting records in Egypt.” - Hazem Hossamcourtesy of Yellowtape Records.
Hossam: My biggest fear is about staying relevant. In Egypt, promoters usually work for five or six years and become irrelevant, because they don’t play what the people like. Consistency is a challenge.
I used to live in the Yellow Tape space, which got hectic; you just wake up, start working and forget that you need some time for yourself. You have to keep a smile on your face all the time and if someone is calling to come over, you can’t tell them ‘no don’t come.’
Hossam at the old store.courtesy of Yellowtape Records.
Amin: We attend and work at all of the parties. We’re at the center of this brand, it’s a very personable and intimate place. If I don’t feel like leaving the house for an event, I think of the space and the way that people respond to being on a good dancefloor with a safe crowd. Knowing that I’m helping create a space where people can be themselves is such a big motivator. They can’t do that if I’m not there and something goes wrong. That’s also bittersweet. We owe the community everything, but I imagine eventually it won’t be an option to show up every time.
Hossam: It feels like we’re doing something right by providing a space for DJs and music. Of course sometimes we’re tired and don’t have the energy, but when the party or the class starts, you just forget that.
Usef plays a set at Yellow Tape Records & Culture’s closing season party in 2026.courtesy of Yellowtape Records.
Hossam: My favorite memory is when we celebrated three years of Yellow Tape. We booked one of our favorite artists and when the set was over, our close friends didn’t want to leave. So we reopened the music and stayed up for a whole other day, DJing back to back to back to back.
Amin: At our season closing party to celebrate five years, we held a 24-hour event. We had people start with funky house music downstairs in the kitchen area in the afternoon, then moved to the record shop with electronic music, and then opened the roof at 8am and played an ambience set in the sun until midday. That day was eyeopening, we realised that we’re doing something that people will stay 24 hours for. It was extremely tiring and we’ll never do it again.
Artwork collage to celebrate Yellow Tape Records & Culture’s third anniversary.courtesy of Yellowtape Records.
Hossam: The biggest lesson we have learned is to trust your gut. If you have something in mind, just try it out – but know what you’re signing up for. And that there’s no success without failure.
Amin: It’s very important that you listen to the music you’re promoting. You have to be really into it in order to get others to hear it. Don’t underestimate people’s ability to follow something raw. People will appreciate a creative and weird concept more than a trend.
