Born to a father of Arabic-Jewish ancestry and a British mother, singer Natacha Atlas is among the most popular British Arab artists. The Anglo-Egyptian singer was born in Belgium but moved to Northampton, England, at an early age. She began her career at the age of 24 when she moved back to Belgium. Atlas became the lead singer of a Belgian salsa band and later of Transglobal Underground, which mixed Eastern and Western sounds.
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| Album's back cover (click to enlarge) |
You selected to compose music for the poem “Continuous Beauty” out of the poems that were proposed to you for the “Colors of Peace -- Rise Up” album. Why did you choose this poem?
We chose out of maybe between 10 to 15 poems, and the one I picked was the one I felt was very romantic but also had a very spiritual nature to it. So it could be about personal love or even your relationship with God, and I’ve always found that kind of subject very appealing. I felt that we could do that [poem] the most justice in terms of expression and translation into Arabic, and so that’s why we chose that one.
Did you know much about Fethullah Gülen before you were introduced to his poems for this project?
Actually I’d heard of his name, but I knew very little about him. In fact, I learned about him later on… I heard a lot of rumors about him and his controversial book, but then other people said he promotes dialogue. I think that anyone who is in a position where they are spiritual leaders and have something to do with religion is always going to be controversial and it’s always going to be for some people dangerous or contentious. That’s always going to be the way it is, but I generally get a good feeling about him. Being of Arab and Middle Eastern origin, I have a predisposition to spiritual matters and I have closeness to that. I probably also have a romantic nature towards the spiritual subject, Sufism in particular, but all religions.
What is the meaning of this project to you and what do you expect it to give to the world?
Well, some people have said that it could help to promote peace and more dialogue, especially with people of different cultures and different religions. I’m not sure. I just think it’s going to be a nice record and, like I said before, I have sympathy towards Islamic poetry. I think there has been some beautiful Islamic poetry in the past and I still think there is more possible today with new poets, and so I hope it promotes something of beauty.
Excerpted from the interview published on Sunday's Zaman, 05 May 2013, Sunday
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