The World (Public Radio International), Global Hit CD review on Natacha Atlas >>
BY Marco Werman
Natacha Atlas released an album two years ago that earned her the title, "the Queen of North African Cool." But Atlas wasn't, and isn't, satisfied with that as The World's Marco Werman reports. You might think the pinnacle of musical fame has been reached when you've toured with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. Which Natacha Atlas has done. You might think the tops is selling out Lincoln Center in New York. Which Natacha Atlas has also done. But the singer never seems to rest, not even on her laurels.
Natacha Atlas has a new recording that comes out this week. The woman who became the first Arabic rock star in Northampton, England, has come full circle. She now rocks Arabic rhythms.
There's brilliant chaos in Natacha Atlas's sound when she rocks out. Her voice is also capable of soaring in quiet compositions. Atlas is multi-dimensional that way. A few years ago on a concert tour of Israel, Natacha Atlas referred to herself as a "human Gaza strip." She was speaking about her musical influences partly. But she was also referring to her own complex background: her father is a Moroccan Jew, her mother is Egyptian, and Natacha herself was brought up in the North African suburbs of Brussels, Belgium. And today, Natacha Atlas listens to sounds as varied as Egyptian diva Oum Kalsoum and rapper Missy Elliot. The last time The World spoke with Natacha Atlas, she said she and her producers hear music through both eastern and western ears.
Natacha Atlas: We have been kind of working with the Arabic rhythm, the "saiyidi" and the melody, and sort of restructuring certain songs using that rhythm, because I feel that that rhythm isn't too alien really for Europeans to get into, and you just have to kind of arrange the song so it fits in with this rhythm and then everything else happens around it I guess.
"Something Dangerous" is the title of the just released CD by Natacha Atlas.
For The World, I'm Marco Werman 05/21/03 >> go there
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