In little more than a decade, Natacha Atlas has performed with Jah Wobble's Egypto-dub Invaders of the Heart and the ethno-techno group Transglobal Underground, and made a half-dozen solo albums whose influences stretch from Cairo to Kingston. Only a bit of this heritage was audible in a frustratingly short performance Thursday at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage.

Atlas's appearance was part of Vive la World!, an annual tour that spotlights music rooted, produced or at least popular in France. (The singer was born in Belgium and built her career in Britain.) The Kennedy Center has hosted the tour for several years, even though the multiple-act lineup doesn't exactly fit the Millennium Stage's one-hour-a-day format. On Thursday, Atlas was budgeted a mere 30 minutes, while DuOud, the techno-oud duo that opened, got only 25. (Two more Vive la World! acts were scheduled for Friday.)

For their abbreviated set, Atlas and her seven-piece band drew mostly on the singer's new album, "Something Dangerous." Although a violinist and a keyboardist played melodic lines, the emphasis was on the three percussionists and three singers. In the manner of dancehall reggae -- and ethno-techno, for that matter -- the lead vocals played only a small role. Still, Atlas's sustained notes and slippery trills were the evening's highlight.

DuOud began with a virtuoso duet for oud, a lute-like instrument, but Jean-Pierre Smadja then switched to manipulating the sound via a laptop, while Mehdi Haddab was soon playing his instrument behind his head, a la Jimi Hendrix. Perhaps with more time the twosome would have been subtler, but DuOud's concept is fundamentally gimmicky.

-- Mark Jenkins