Globally celebrated singer Natacha Atlas has been building towards the subtle
beauty of her brand new album ever since 2008 s internationally acclaimed
acoustic, orchestral album Ana Hina. Recorded with guests including pianist Zoe
Rahman, a 20-piece Turkish ensemble and a chamber orchestra integrating
western and Arabic styles, Mounqaliba (which means being in a state of reversal
in classical Arabic) is a stunning set of original new songs, evocative interludes,
and a limpid, lucid reading of Nick Drake s The Riverman.
What I hope I have achieved says Natacha is to match the lyricism of classical
music with the inherent poetry of Arabic, I wanted to continue the exploration of
grounds covered with Ana Hina. Through the juxtaposition of western classical
string sections with traditional Arabic instruments, classical arabic poetry against
abstract impressionism, traditional Arabic percussion with smoky jazz kits....... To
create a melange of ideas and examined opposites. Spanning a broad range of
styles and sounds, Nick Drake's Riverman nestles snugly alongside classical arabic
standard Muwashah Ozkourini, the utopian epic sweep of Makaan (tempering
wistfulness with a fragile sadness) and the post-modern glitchiness of Batkallim
(the most electronic sounding song on the album, a scathing denunciation of the
growing tide of hypocrisy that seems to have stricken the world's media and
politics).
Though largely acoustic, and featuring ney, accordion and piano among the
fusion of East-West string ensembles and orchestral textures, Natacha does make
a return to digital beats. There is one track where we ve treated the Arabic
percussion with electronic programming. A lot of the time when Arabic music is
fused with western music they conform the Arabic beats to western beats
because it s one of the easiest ways to bring the two worlds together, but we ve
not done that, we ve glitched it instead, so it has a modern feel without losing its
Arabic identity.