Gedida

1	Mon Amie la Rose 4:47
2	Agaba 4:37
3	Mistaneek 4:15
4	Bahlam 4:32
5	Ezzay 5:18
6	Bastet 6:16
7	The Righteous Path 6:48
8	Mahlabeya 3:29
9	Bilaadi 6:18
10	Kifaya 8:59
11	One Brief Moment 5:28

Barnes & Noble

Glamorous as Liz Taylor's Cleopatra is Natacha Atlas. Vocalist and belly dancer with Transglobal Underground, London-based Atlas has continued to explore her Moroccan, Jewish, and Egyptian ancestry in her solo work. Gedida is her most accomplished record yet, a thoroughly modern take on the wailing funk of Arabic pop music. Recorded in part in Cairo with a film orchestra, the album incorporates Moroccan chabbi, ragga dance hall grooves, strings, loops, and the occasional Arabic rap. And Natacha's voice has matured into a devastating instrument, whether charming us in Arabic or English. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Natacha Atlas' third album greatly expands upon the promise of her earlier work -- on Gedida, her fusion of Arabic musical traditions and contemporary dance beats really jells, eliminating the more gimmicky dimensions of earlier records to strike a fascinating balance between old and new. While tracks like "Kifaya" and "Ezzay" magnify the cinematic aspirations of past efforts, Gedida also takes a number of fascinating left turns -- a cover of Françoise Hardy's "Mon Amie la Rose" is hauntingly beautiful, while on the closing "One Brief Moment" Atlas delivers her first English-language vocal. Raymond McKinney