Natacha Atlas’s new album, Mish Maoul is set to release tomorrow, April 25th.
From her record company “As befits her globe-trotting lifestyle and influences, Middle Eastern singer Natacha Atlas continues to create a body of work that refuses to be neatly categorised. Over the past decade, she has entrancingly fused North African and Arabic music with western electronic beats to produce a unique dance music hybrid.
This sound has constantly been fed by fresh musical passions and testing in new sonic settings.
With her latest, exciting album “Mish ma’oul”, her career comes full circle to touch base with her roots. The new album harks back in its sound and traditions to the music she grew up hearing in the Moroccan suburb of Brussels, particularly when the Golden Sound Studio Orchestra of Cairo makes its entrance. It also reunites her again with the Temple of Sound’s Nick Page aka Count Dubulah, with whom she first worked in Transglobal Underground and who helped produce her very first solo album Diaspora (and many subsequent collaborations).
Natacha’s music is a unique fusion that bridges cultural as well as musical polarities. As Ex-President of Ireland Mary Robinson, who in 2001 appointed Atlas Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Conference Against Racism, put it:
“She embodies the message that there is strength in diversity, that our differences – be they ethnic, racial or religious – are a source of riches to be embraced rather than feared.”
More information can be found at: http://www.mish-maoul.com/ and you can pre-order the album here.
Trilok Gurtu releases a new album in collaboration with the Frikyiwa Family. From the record company’s website: “Recorded in the bush of Southern Mali , the new album of Trilok Gurtu is a very unique production. Completely acoustic and recorded live, the amazing sound of “Farakala” comes as a big surprise. Produced by Frederic Galliano for the Frikyiwa label, it propels Trilok Gurtu within the most subtle and profound almagamation of Indian and African musical culture ever carried out. Working with Hadja Kouyaté (voice, Guinea-Conakry), Ali Boulo Santo (voice and will kora, Senegal), NGou Bagayoko (guitar, Mali), Filifin (kamélé goni and voice, Mali) and Sounkalo (dozon goni, Mali), Trilok Gurtu pushes the experiment to the point of giving up his tablas and drums. Exploring the compositions to the full while integrating the rare percussions of Southern Mali, his art brings out all of his Indian culture while embracing African vibrations. These musical interactions, these instinctive and exploratory creations and interpretations make the album a sensual and joyful experience, far from stereotype “world fusion”. Trilok Gurtu emerges here at his most simple, and at his best; the album demonstrates the great talent of an innovative and experienced artist.”
You can pre-order the album here.