Natacha Atlas Biography by Craig Harris
Belgian-born singer,
multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and classical belly dancer Natacha
Atlas is possessed of a throaty, expressive alto and offers a
multilingual vocal approach to the fusion of Arabic and South Asian
musics with Western styles, from electronica to pop to jazz standards.
As a solo artist and in well-documented collaborations with more than
100 others (Peter Gabriel, Jean-Michel Jarre, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Belinda Carlisle
among them), her music was born from her family's heritage of Egyptian,
Palestinian, Moroccan, and Sephardic ethnicities. Her intensely
rhythmic vocal style was heard outside Europe first with Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart on the hit album Rising Above Bedlam in 1991. She served as lead vocalist and belly dancer with world fusion electro band Transglobal Underground,
starting with their dancefloor hit single "Temple Head." She is a
relentless experimenter. Her solo albums, beginning with 1995's
downtempo fusion set Diaspora, have charted across the Arab world. In 1998 she delivered an Arabic fusion cover of Françoise Hardy's pop chanson "Mon Amie en Rose" that charted in Europe. Her 2006 offering, Mish Maoul, wed Arabic, electronic, and organic beats to Latin sounds and bossa nova. In 2008 she fronted the traditional Arabic Mazeeka Ensemble on Ana Hina. She took on British folk with 2010's Riverman EP, that featured her charting cover of Nick Drake's signature tune alongside a host of club remixes. In 2016 she delved into jazz with Myriad Road, produced by trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, and Eros with Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa. She has since performed with her old friends in Transglobal Underground while continuing to record on her own, releasing Strange Days in 2019.
Tracklist
| 1 | Iskanderia | ||
| 2 | Leysh Nat'Arak | ||
| 3 | Diaspora | ||
| 4 | Yalla Chant | ||
| 5 | Alhambra Pt. 1 | ||
| 6 | Duden | ||
| 7 | Feres |
| 8 | Fun Does Not Exist | ||
| 9 | Dub Yalil | ||
| 10 | Iskanderia (Atlas Zamalek) | ||
| 11 | Diaspora (Ballon Theatre Mix) | ||
| 12 | Fun Does Not Exist (Dolmus Mix) |