Your reviewer previously referred to American singer/ songwriter James Apollo as ‘nomadic’ earlier today, but when it comes to globetrotting lifestyles and absorbing exotic influences, then you need look no further than Middle Eastern singer NATACHA ATLAS. This writer first espied Ms. Atlas collaborating with Jah Wobble’s Invaders Of The Heart back at the dawn of the ‘90s, but since then she’s been part of influential world music/ dance fusionists Transglobal Underground and worked with artists as disparate as Jaz Coleman, Jean-Michel Jarre and Apache Indian. A fascinating and unlikely CV by anyone’s standards.
Of course, Nat’s solo work has often been overseen by members of her TGU colleagues and as with her notable solo debut “Diaspora” (1995), “Mish Maoul” is again touched by the hands of Temple of Sound/ TGU men Nick (Count Dubulah) Page, Tim Whelan and Hamid ManTu. As with her previous album 2003’s “Something Dangerous”, too, the mysterious and sultry Middle Eastern influences are tempered by the input of UK pop, dance and rap, and the results are largely sumptuous and rather fabulous.
East and West collide in heady fashion via tracks like “Feen”, “Hayati Inta” and “Bathaddak”. The first immerses itself in the sounds of the Souk as well as a cool hip-hop vibe a la Red Snapper and guest vocalist Princess Juliana’s soulful vocal. The song’s message of global uncertainty (“you ever think about the times and the troubles we live in and the kind of retribution the future will bring?) is undeniable as you hear the best of the Continents intertwining musically. “Hayati Inta” is no less intoxicating, mixing and matching shape-throwing rawk’n’rawl instruments like, er, oud, gambri, bender and djouwak as well as boring old guitar, bass and drums. The end results are terrific, though: imagine Brian Jones’ Joujouka experiments shot through with Bristolian cool and this is what you get.
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Elsewhere – like on “Ghanwah Bossanova” – the West seeps into the pores of the project. Opening with a cool acoustic guitar motif akin to the likes of early Everything But The Girl or Kalima, the song opens our around Nat’s hellishly sexy wail, while the hot-blooded “Bathaddak” again features Princess Juliana and a seamless fusion of spicy pop culture. The use of strings – provided by the Golden Sound Orchestra of Cairo – is also hugely effective on tracks like “La Lil Khowf” and the shimmering “Bab El Janna”.
The spirituality in Atlas’s work is never in doubt either, and it’s demonstrated beautifully on “Wahashni”, which pretty much eschews all traces of the west thanks to a mesmeric arrangement and an atmosphere filled with claps, zils, bells and Qanum. The music is multi-layered and – at least to these ears – nearly always complex in design, though Nat keeps a surprise in store by signing off with “Yariet” in conjunction with merely Marc Eagleton’s guitar. It’s an oasis of calm after the cross-pollinating pop storm of the previous 45 minutes but none the worse for that and a lovely, hymnal way to let go. At least until the next time.
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