By: Yomna Walid&nbsp;
His journey began in the 1990s as a bass guitarist performing live with a band. However, when rehearsals became difficult due to college and life commitments, music found another way into his hands through turntables, mixers, and late nights spent perfecting transitions inspired by global DJs.
What started as a hobby turned into a deeper passion after being part of a band, learning everything related to music, and constantly developing himself to keep up with new trends. This Thursday on &ldquo;DJ of the Week&rdquo; on NileFM, DJ Carlos will take over the decks for one hour of dance, energy, and special surprises. Everything included in this set will be his personal remixes and edits, never before heard on radio.
NileFM speaks to Carlos, who reflects on a career built on passion, sound, and creating moments that stay with crowds long after the music fades. In this exclusive interview, he opens up about the evolution of his musical identity, the energy behind his sets, and the lessons music has taught him that still guide every performance. Tune in today at 10:00 PM to experience surprises before anyone else.
What first inspired you to become a DJ, and do you remember the moment you realised this was the path you wanted to follow?
Back in the &rsquo;90s, I was a band member, playing bass guitar, performing live, and rocking stages numerous times. However, when it became difficult to gather the band members for rehearsals and performances due to college studies and life commitments, I searched for an alternative way to keep my passion for music alive.
Creating mixtapes and CDs had also been a hobby since childhood, so I bought a mixer and started experimenting with mixing bit by bit until I figured it out by listening to transitions from global DJs that I admired. I would search for and download the two tracks, then try to recreate the transition until I perfected it.
It&rsquo;s not that difficult when you come from a musical background or play an instrument. The very first rave in Egypt was Ministry Of Sound at Roots Maadi in 1999, and I was lucky enough to be there. Watching a DJ perform live and unite the entire venue through sound was the moment I decided to follow this path.
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You&rsquo;ve just been featured as NileFM&rsquo;s DJ of the Week. What does this recognition mean to you at this stage of your journey?
I&rsquo;m very thankful for the invitation and the feature. NileFM&rsquo;s airwaves were my home for more than 15 years and helped kick-start my career, as well as the careers of many other DJs. It will always remain a place for talent to shine and the birthplace of future stars.
Take us behind the scenes of preparing one of your DJ sets. How do you build the mood and energy before stepping behind the decks?
When you go to a fine restaurant for a meal consisting of appetisers, a main course, and dessert, all prepared by an experienced chef where every ingredient complements the next, to me, a DJ set is very similar.
It&rsquo;s a journey of sounds building up and transitioning through different energies to create unforgettable feelings for dancefloor lovers. Being prepared, rested, and focused are key elements of a great performance, alongside a few stomach butterflies.
Your mixes blend House, Afro House, Tribal, and multicultural electronic sounds. What attracts you to these styles, and how do they shape your musical identity?
I wouldn&rsquo;t limit myself to specific genres. Whatever feels right, I&rsquo;ll play. It&rsquo;s true that these are some of my favourite genres, but I also enjoy Progressive House, Deep House, Techno, Melodic Techno, and Tech House, and I&rsquo;ve played all of them.
I enjoy surprises when they&rsquo;re done properly during a set, and the crowd enjoys them too. Shaping my musical identity comes from consistently delivering high-quality sound experiences and emotions every time I&rsquo;m behi
When you&rsquo;re performing live, how do you read the crowd and decide when it&rsquo;s time to shift the energy of the set? On every dance floor, there are those who are there only for the music, to dance and have a great time, with no phones, keeping interactions to a minimum, feeling cleansing and feeding on sound energies. They&rsquo;ll dance all night as long as you&rsquo;re doing it right. Those are the ones to look for in a crowd, the thermometers that can give you an exact collective feeling of the whole dance floor. I want to give a shout-out to those great characters for guiding me and the whole room with their great energies.
You&rsquo;re coming back to NileFM, this time as DJ of the Week. How does it feel to return in this role, and what surprises did you prepare for listeners? Well, DJ of the Week or the DJ of every week, as it was for 15 years, is kind of the same to me. I&rsquo;ve got to give it my all. It&rsquo;s always a huge responsibility to play for millions in my hometown. So I prepared something very special for it. Everything included in this set is my personal remixes and edits and has never been heard before on any radio.
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Is there a specific track or moment in a set that always creates magic on the dancefloor for you? Got to always have those silver bullets in your arsenal and tricks up your sleeve. It&rsquo;s that track that no one knows about and is guaranteed to be a future hit, or that nostalgic remix that I just finished and can&rsquo;t wait to drop and enjoy the reactions.
Over the years, what has been the most memorable comment you&rsquo;ve received while DJing? I&rsquo;m very humbled and thankful for all the great comments, compliments, criticism, and unforgettable reactions I got while playing. It fills my heart with joy and pushes me to get better. There&rsquo;s this comment that I received that really stands out, and it came not from an experienced raver but from a tycoon businessman. He said: &ldquo;You know Carlos, when you play, it&rsquo;s like your fingers have strings attached to everyone in the venue, connected to their bodies, brains, and hearts, and you move everyone like marionettes,&rdquo; as he kept moving his arms and fingers.
Electronic music is constantly evolving. How do you stay creative and keep your sound fresh in such a fast-moving scene? It was always about the &ldquo;selection&rdquo; and always will be. Playing what everyone knows, plays, and has on their phones, in their cars, and gyms is nice, don&rsquo;t get me wrong, but it&rsquo;s not for me. I want to play what you&rsquo;ve never heard before but that blows your mind away while listening to it on the spot, and that you&rsquo;ll remember the next day or tell your friends about, that monster remix of a song you know that I dropped, that new sound, or heartfelt melody or vocal line upon moving bass lines and beats. So the more you refine your selection, the more you&rsquo;ll reach a bigger audience.
Looking back at your experiences in the industry so far, what is the most important lesson music has taught you? People will always remember how you made them feel.
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What advice would you give to young DJs who want to create their own sound and build a career in electronic music? Stay humbled and true to your roots. The day you feel you&rsquo;re bigger than the music or the crowd is the day that ends your career. Be prepared for rejection, don&rsquo;t take it personally, and have patience alongside consistency. Music is a message; if you&rsquo;re not in it to say something, then please don&rsquo;t. You have to walk the path with steady steps, no taxi rides or shortcuts, or you&rsquo;ll find the whole journey went to waste. It&rsquo;s a 24-hours, 7-days-a-week job, not just a 2-hour performance, so ask yourself every day before sleeping: &ldquo;What have I done today to make me a better DJ?&rdquo;

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