Artists
who's who and who's doing what?Natacha Atlas
Line up
- Natacha Atlas (Natacha Atlas & the Mazeeka Ensemble)
- country:Egypt
- region:North Africa
- style(s):Arabic
- label:
- type:Band
- gender:female
- instrumentation:instrumental, vocal
- artist submitted by:
Born in Belgium the daughter of an Egyptian father and an English mother, Natacha Atlas is known worldwide for her fusion of Arabic and North African music with western pop and Electronica. 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.
After being involved in a number of short-lived pro-jects, she found her way into London-based Trans-global Underground's multi-cultural troupe at the beginning of the 90s. The encounter was to turn into a long-standing, happy association. Many Guest appearances followed and two years later she es-tablished herself as a core member of the quartet as lead singer and belly dancer.
She began her solo career in 1999, earning a repu-tation for being one of the most original and innova-tive artists of our time. The success of her work, both in the Middle East and in the West has shown just how alluring a musical bridging of the divide can be; the exotic Arabic scales, rhythms and textures open up new horizons for 4/4-entrapped western pop and create possibilities for the enormous and varied Middle Eastern music scene to communicate outside itself.
Natacha Atlas has performed all over the world - playing at many international festivals (such as Montreal and Montreux Jazz Festival, Roskilde, Summer Stage Central Park NYC, Paleo Festival, Glastonbury, Olympic arts Sydney 2000, Pirineos Sur, Sziget and many others) as well as numerous theatres and clubs.
In 2000 she had a top ten hit in France with her Arabic version of Mon Amie la Rose, That year she won Best Female Singer at the Victoires de la Musique Awards, France's equivalent of the Brits. In May 2004, Natacha received an Emma award (Eth-nic Multicultural Media Award) in the United King-dom as Best World Music Act. Her 2006 album Mish Maoul (more roots) was a great success and brought her over 60 concerts all over the world, taking her to the USA, Russia, North Africa and all over Europe
This autumn Natacha will set her focus on recording a new album (to be released in spring 2008), which will be more than ever a mixture between the cul-tures. Singing in English, French, Arabic, Hindi and other languages she'll once more give proof of be-ing an extraordinary and multifarious artist.
