|
My discovery of Natacha Atlas was pure serendipity. I'd been watching
one of the extras on a James Bond DVD; it was about Danny Arnold, who
wrote the music for Tomorrow Never Dies. And it mentioned a
CD he'd produced of covers of Bond songs. I went searching in all the
usual places for the CD, which apparently was never released in the
US. Even worse, it appeared to be out of print in the UK. So I tried
the less legal sources of music. (Shhhh! Don't tell the
RIAA!) And I found an amazing version of From Russia With
Love by someone named Natacha Atlas. Her Middle Eastern singing
style is an natural fit for a story that takes place in Istanbul. And
one I wanted to hear more of.
The iTMS to the rescue. I was surprised to find several of
Ms. Atlas's albums on the store. Gedida is my favorite so far. with
performances of equal grace in English
(One
Brief Moment), French
(Mon
amie la rose) and Arabic (the other nine tracks). Not your
ordinary listening, at least in this part of the world. Sadly,
there's no From Russia With Love on the iTMS, at least not
from this artist. But she does have a kickass rendition of
You
Only Live Twice. That's something.
|
|
