Description
Natacha Atlas is an internationally-acclaimed artist with one of the world’s most distinctive voices. The Anglo-Egyptian singer has spent more than two decades fusing electronic beats with North African and Arabic music, finding links between seemingly disparate musical genres, exploring new and different sonic settings and working with a wealth of like-minded collaborators from across the world along the way. The resulting body of work is both a triumph of true multiculturalism and a testament to the richness and accessibility of Arabic culture. It is, indeed, an oeuvre unlike any other. Presiding over it all, of course, is Atlas’s extraordinary voice. Meltingly sensuous and gloriously passionate, delicate with melisma and microtones, it bridges Middle Eastern and Western styles with instinctive ease.
The Best Of Natacha Atlas was originally released in May 2005, and we are excited to present a remastered version, available on vinyl for the first time. When this best-of was originally released, Natacha didn’t want to just put out a collection of only album tracks. Several tracks were new mixes and re-workings that Natacha chose to do, and at the time, she said “I decided to re-record a few tracks that I felt needed an overhaul or bringing up to date”. Her stunning versions of the Françoise Hardy classic “Mon Amie La Rose”, the James Bond theme “You Only Live Twice”, “I Put A Spell On You” as made famous by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and James Brown’s “(It’s a Man’s Man’s) Man’s World” are also included.
Natacha Atlas (it’s her real name) was born in Belgium, of Middle Eastern descent, with ancestral and family links to Egypt, Palestine and Morocco. Having moved around the world for most of her life, living in Brussels, Egypt, Greece and England, her experience of different cultures has most certainly influenced her music. Over the years, Natacha’s exceptional talent has been repeatedly recognized by her peers and fans alike in the form of a host of music awards (incl. a French ‘Victoire’) along with numerous invitations to be the star vocalist at major events (such as the Millennium concert at the pyramids in Egypt in 2000 with Jean-Michel Jarre) and to appear on the scores and soundtracks of numerous Hollywood blockbusters, incl. Sex & the City 2, The Hulk, Kingdom of Heaven, Brick Lane and Sahara.
