Track Listing
1. Marifnaash
2. Moustahil
3. Amulet
4. Leyli
5. Kidda
6. Sweeter Than Any Sweets
7. Ya Weledi
8. Enogoom Wil Amar
9. Andeel
10. Gafsa
11. Ya Albi Ehda
12. Agib
| Details | | Distributor: | Alternative Dis. Alliance | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel: Natach Atlas, Kamel, Mounir (vocals); Count Dubulah (guitar, bass, programming); Justin Adams (guitar); Keith Clouston (oud); Simon Walker (violin, viola); Wa'el Abubakr, Nawazish Khan, Aboud Abdel Al, Ahmed Mansour (violin); Caroline Dale (cello); Rony Barak (dharabuka, riqq, mizmar); Tim Garsaayid (dharabuka, riqq, ney); Carol Isaacs (accordion); John Reynolds (keyboards, Moog synthesizer, bass, drums, nishmale); Alex Kasiek (keyboards, saz, programming, background vocals); Lazarus Whelan (clarinet, ney, tenor saxophone, keyboards); Jaz Coleman (keyboards); Hamoid Mantu (drums, dulcima, jazzride, mouth explosion, programming); Nick Walker (programming).
Producers: John Reynolds, TransGlobal Underground, Jaz Coleman, Essam Rashad.
Engineers include: Arabella Rodriguez, David White, OTT.
Personnel: Natacha Atlas (vocals); Sawt el Atlas (vocals, background vocals); Count Dubulah (guitar, programming); Justin Adams (guitar); Hamid Mantu (dulcimer, drums, programming); Keith Clouston (oud); Alex Kasiek (saz, keyboards, programming, background vocals); Simon Walker (violin, viola); Abdel Al Aboud (violin); Caroline Dale (cello); Carol Isaacs (accordion); Larry Whelan (ney, tenor saxophone, keyboards); Jaz Coleman, John Reynolds (keyboards); Nick Walker (programming).
Recording information: Butterfly Studios; Ghost Rooms; Greenhouse Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Intimate Studios; Sawt Elqahira Studio, Cairo, Egypt.
Photographer: John Sleeman.
Arrangers: Essam Rashad; Jaz Coleman.
Atlas' second solo record -- for some strange reason never released in America, where the first and third were -- continues in her vein of excellent Arabic singing combined with a wide variety of musical traditions, modern and ancient. Working with four distinct cowriting/production groups this time around, including her collaborators in Transglobal Underground in one group and, in another, Killing Joke mainman Jaz Coleman (pursuing his other interest in orchestrations), Atlas again creates an intoxicating series of love songs, all sung in Arabic but with lyrical snippets printed in English. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most technological and dancefloor-friendly numbers are done with the Transglobal crowd, who work on about half the album's tracks. "Moustahil" and "Amulet" both feature shuffling dance beats and loops along with a number of performers on such instruments as oud and dharabuka, plus energetic backing vocals from duo Sawt El Atlas. Coleman's tracks, "Enogoom Wil Amar" and "Andeel," equally deserve notice for Atlas' vocals and his own striking, lush arrangements, while her collaboration with Egyptian musician/orchestra leader Essam Rashad, "Ya Albi Ehda," is a beauty in the vein of older Arabic popular music. No matter who's working with her performing what, though, it's Atlas' show all the way, her singing shimmering out with all the beauty one could ever want in a vocalist. ~ Ned Raggett
Editorial Reviews
...Atlas pretty much abandons the Western part of the equation, singing entirely in Arabic and otherwise paying little mind to any of her rock, rap or pop-derived influences....she pulls this off without sounding fake or forced...
Option (05/01/1998)
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