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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.
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