With the release of her newest album, songstress Natacha Altas has once again confounded those struggling to assign a genre to her music. In her seventh solo album, Natacha disregards her typical technoesque, beat-driven performances with ululating vocals for a more subdued palate of traditional Arabic melodies and string ensembles. Natacha pays homage to one half of her roots with covers of Egyptian superstar Abdel Halim Hafez's "Beny Ou Benak Eih" and "El Asil". She also performs three songs from the repertoire of Lebanese star Fairuz: La Shou El Haki, Ya Laure Hobouki, and La Teetab Alayi. However, the Spanish flavor of such tracks as "La Vida Callada" (Based on a Frida Kahlo poem of the same name) prevents this album from being classified as "Arabic". This duet also prompts the listener to wonder where songwriter/vocalist/ukeleist Clara Sanabras has been hiding. A particularly lovely version of the traditional Scottish ballad "Black is the Color" also reminds us that Natacha can do anything Nina can. This new acoustic sound is a wise move and has given Natacha an unexpected but welcome musical reboot.
01 Ya Laure Hobouki (Oh Laure, My Love To You)
02 Beny Ou Benak Eih (What's Between Me And You? I Wish You'd Tell Me)
03 Ana Hina (I'm Here)
04 La Shou El Haki (Why The Need To Talk?)
05 Black Is The Colour
06 La Teetab Alayi (Don't Blame Me)
07 La Vida Callada (The Unspoken Life)
08 Hayati Inta Reprise (Hayatak Ana) (You're My Life And I Am Your Life)
09 El Asil (Sunset)
10 Lammebada
11 He Hesitated
12 El Nowm (The Sleep)
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