Music Review - Natacha Atlas

Once, during a stressful and exhilarating trip to Israel, Natacha Atlas described herself as "a human Gaza strip". She was referring to the complex melange of influences - both genetic and environmental - that have shaped her both as an individual and as a performer.

Although her father was a Sephardic Jew, Natacha grew up in the Moroccan suburbs of Brussels, becoming fluent in French, Spanish, Arabic and English, immersing herself in Arabic culture, and learning from childhood the raq sharki - belly dance - techniques that she uses to devastating effect on stage today. Even more striking than Natacha's dance moves, though, is her voice, which swoops and soars, blending unfettered talent and the complexities of Arabic musical theory into a burst of sound that is thrilling, immediate and evocative.

It's a melodic weapon which seen service in a variety of musical projects since Natacha moved to England as a teenager and became Northampton's first Arabic rock singer. Later, dividing her time between the UK and Brussels, she sang in a variety of Arabic and Turkish nightclubs, and spent a brief stint in a Belgian salsa band called Mandanga. As she shuttled between Northampton and Brussels, however, she began to attract the attention of musicians in the UK, including the Balearic beat crew ¡Loca!, and Jah Wobble, then assembling his Invaders Of The Heart.

In 1991, both these projects bore fruit. Timbal by ¡Loca! started out as a track on Nation Records' Fuse Two compilation and became a massive club hit, while Wobble's Rising Above Bedlam - five tracks of which Natacha co-wrote - attracted much critical acclaim and a Mercury award nomination. The success of Timbal cemented Natacha's relationship with the ground-breaking Nation label, who introduced her to Trans-Global Underground, at that time enjoying success with the anthemic Templehead.

As chief collaborator, lead singer and belly dancer with Trans-Global, Natacha has performed all over the world - playing at Glastonbury, WOMAD, Reading, Phoenix and The Brixton Academy and many international festivals - and recorded two commercially and critically successful LPs - Dream Of 100 Nations and International Times. In the process, Natacha has helped to introduce many thousands of people to a unique, heady and sensuous fusion of global sounds and trip-hop rhythms.

Despite this hectic schedule, Natacha has still found time to get involved in other projects. Her involvement with WOMAD earned the devotion of Peter Gabriel, and the two have been struggling to find enough time to work together ever since. She lent her arabesque vocals to Apache Indian's Arranged Marriage. Natacha has also maintained her links with Jah Wobble, co-writing and performing three tracks on 1994's Take Me To God; and worked (with David Arnold) on what Time Out described as the "stirring score" for the Kurt Russell film Stargate as well as the Judge Dredd movie.

Quite how Natacha has found time to write and record a solo LP on top of all this activity is something of a mystery. Anyone who experienced the profoundly languid bass thrill of her debut solo single Dub Yalil / Yalla Chant, however, will be delighted that she did. Natacha has worked with Tunisian singer-songwriter Walid Rouissi, Egyptian composer and Oud-master Essam Rashad, a plethora of Arabic musicians, and various members of Trans-Global Underground to create songs of love and yearning which genuinely fuse West and East.

The album, called Diaspora, moves easily between classical Arab inflections and dance/dub rhythms, while the language shifts from Arabic to French to Spanish. The first single Duden, a bewitching, breathy shimmer has been transformed into Spooky's alluring "Daytrip To Sousse" Mix and Talvin Singh's frankly self-explanatory "Indian Jungle Book" Mix.

Some personal favorites: Erzulie, Egyptienne, Guide Me God, Kidda, Agaba, Ali Mullah, Ayeshteni