the famous aphorism by Italian comedian Freak Antoni: the one that goes "fortune is blind, but bad luck has perfect eyesight". A damned accident, able to knock down even the hardest fighter. But for Natacha Atlas, a lovely girl whose origins are half Palestinian and half Egyptian, this never ending odyssey between two equally unlikely cities in the end turned out to be a real pilgrimage to the Mecca. Because in Bruxelles, in the Islamic slum, thanks to the providential help from parents and uncles, she developed the foundations of "shaabi" (ie. of Egyptian pop of the latest years) and of "belly dance". While in Northampton, despite the miserable bleakness of everyday life, fate brought her to run into the extreme fringes of avant-garde British techno, with names like Asian Dub Foundation, Talvin Singh and Transglobal Underground. So that miss Atlas, once definitely settled in London after another quick stay in Bruxelles, can rightly claim she learnt the tricks of the trade. While she was waiting for brighter days.

Days that are coming right now, at the end of the second millennium, thanks to an European tour that included dates also in Milan (the "Festa della Musica" last June) and at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where hundreds of fans waited until 2 in the morning to see her appear on the huge stage of the Stravinski Auditorium. Days that she prepared for with extreme patience and method, first collaborating as a vocalist and belly dancer with Transglobal Underground, and then releasing three highly interesting albums - "Diaspora", "Halim" and "Gedida", all for the Beggars Banquet label - in which there is a new and strong and potentially explosive osmosis between East and West. A sort of "Islam pop", to use an extremely sinthetical formula, in which the millenary Arab vocalisms gracefully mingle with the metropolitan rhythm machines, and the instruments of the purest Arab tradition - oud, bouzouki, tablas, dulcimer, riqq, bendir - alternate with perfect naturalness with the "scratch" of the trendiest British deejays.

As regards this extremely original métissage, which in France already has huge following and promises to be the absolute must for months to come, the tiny Natacha - 5.1 feet, high heels included, enchanting green eyes, an opulent shape perfectly suited to every true belly dancer - proves she has extremely clear ideas. «Someone called this mix "new rai", linking it indirectly with the work of Khaled, Cheb Mami, Rachid Taha and Bellemou Messaoud: but I honestly don't agree with this», she says firmly .«I am in fact, both for family and emotional reasons, closer to an Egyptian, rather than Algerian, way of seeing things. For this reason I sped all my free time between one tour and the other at the Cairo: to improve my knowledge of the Arab language and music. Because of this all my favorite reference points are the great singers of the Egyptian tradition before "shaabi". Singers who could easily interact with my Western favorite icons: Sinead O¹ Connor, Asian Dub Foundation and, most of all, Björk, a chanteuse with whom I'd love to collaborate in the future».

If these are her wishes for the future, Natacha's present is marked by songs chanted in both Arab and English, which fascinatingly fluctuate around that "sense of indeterminacy" which seems to be the essential characteristic of Middle Eastern music. These are graceful and evanescent songs, which sing mostly about love, timeless feelings and emotions. Like in "Bahlam", where «the dreams of many girls who have remained unchanged for the last thousand years» float light as feathers. Or like in "Mon amie la rose", which is «my own remake, in the form of a lament, of a delicate song interpreted by Françoise Hardy more than thirty years ago». And if the themes of political and social nature remain for the moment totally excluded, in this universe as soft as morning dew, the reason is clear. «My greatest desire is for my records to be listened to also in Egypt», says miss Atlas with great conviction. «And over there, in spite of timid openings in the latest years, talking about politics is still forbidden. So... better be careful, with the hope that something sooner or later will happen». And there is no doubt that things will go this way. Nothing is impossible for a girl who managed to gain success in spite of that terrible handicap at the start: leaving Bruxelles to get to Northampton.