Furthermore, on a day when my neighbors are waving the Stars and Stripes, Atlas is talking about the beauty of Middle Eastern culture and the ignorance of the American people.

''They don't get much information about what's going on,'' the chanteuse of mixed Arab and European heritage says. ``Their leadership keeps them ignorant, keeps them fed on sugar. It's important to go out there and try to show them something.''

Now before anyone goes dumping bottles of Bordeaux in the bay, hear Atlas out: She knows misinformed populaces are a global disease. And she's as proud of her Western culture as her Eastern.

''I have two identities in me, my Arabic and my Western side,'' she says from England, where she resides part of the time; the rest she spends in Egypt. ``The Occidental side Americans already have a commonality with. I want people to be more sympathetic to Arabic culture; it's important to express that. It's a way to try to open doors. As ordinary people, we're all being lied to by cartels and countries. We're all going to wake up and find out what's going on.''

GLOBAL CROSSING

Atlas has been trying to wake people up for about 15 years. Born in the Moroccan suburbs of Brussels, Atlas's father is a Sephardic Jew; her mother, English. She moved to England as a teen. Long before Jay-Z heard Panjabi MC, Atlas was bringing her Arabic vocal style to collaborations with the group Loca and bassist Jah Wobble. She then joined forces with the acclaimed electro-driven world-beat group Trans-Global Underground. She launched her own solo career in 1995 and has since released six albums, including a remix collection. The latest, Something Dangerous, is aimed directly at American audiences, from its English title to its urban radio beats.

On the new CD, Atlas collaborates with Sinéad O'Connor on the Zen ballad Simple Heart and with Jamaican toaster Princess Julianna on a few tracks. Songs such as Eye of the Duck and Something Dangerous find a musical link between raga and Arabic beats.

''There are similarities between dancehall and raq sharki [Arabic term for belly dancing] in movement,'' Atlas says. ``They're parallel on the rhythmical side, in the malfous rhythm. In some of the movements, you can see this African link.''

Atlas has been a practitioner of belly dancing for years. Ironically, she feels freer to express this side of her outside of Arab countries.

''Belly dancers have been linked to prostitution and women who weren't conforming to getting married and having kids,'' Atlas says. ``If you're a belly dancer you might be a bit of a slut. Because I'm a singer as well, some men in my working life, if I'm in the Middle East, they say don't wear a belly-dancer costume while singing; people won't respect you. Whereas in Europe or America, I'm free to express my art as I see fit. You have to adapt to different ways of doing things, you have to respect that culture.''

WALK LIKE EGYPTIAN

Atlas relishes the freedoms she enjoys as a Western woman. But her heart is clearly in Egypt.

''There are loads of things I get there; I can't explain it really. I have a whole social life there,'' she says.

She hopes to record her next album in Cairo. She dreams of bringing the Western pop stars who now toy with Middle Eastern beats into her recording world there.

''I want to take Missy Elliott or Ricky Martin and show them the Egypt they wouldn't see,'' she says. ``I want to enrich their experiences.''

Describing her globe-trotting existence, Atlas -- who speaks four languages -- sounds like a true citizen of the world, like the future. These days, even as she promotes her most Western-friendly album to date, she's clearly on a mission. She points out that many practitioners of Arabic music are having visa problems (she, too, had trouble getting into the U.S. and had to miss a concert in Los Angeles earlier this month) and that the WOMAD world-music tour is not happening this year.

``From a point of view of world music, I'm probably one of the few who's going to get out there this year. I just feel it's important to try to make people sympathetic to my culture, my Arabic side.''