Natacha Atlas at Madison World Music Festival

Madison (Wisconsin), USA –

Natacha Atlas, winner of the Best World Music Act/Ethnic Multicultural Media Award, jumpstarts Madison World Music Festival and World Stage Series with her performance at the Wisconsin Union Theater on Tuesday, September 19 at 8 pm.

Her electrifying fusion of North African and Arabic music with western electronic beats, French chansons and UK pop produces a dance music hybrid so good it was featured in films such as The World is not Enough, Die Another Day and Hulk.

With Moroccan, Egyptian and Palestinian roots, she grew up in the Moroccan suburb of Brussels, where she was introduced to the art of raqs sharki (belly dance) and cha’abi (modern Egyptian pop music). She later lived in England, Greece and Egypt and was the lead singer for Balearic Beat and TransGlobal Underground.

Atlas, who has collaborated with Sinead O’Connor among others, is a sponsor of the “Women’s Rights Program,” an Amnesty International worldwide campaign to stop violence against women.

Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says about Atlas, “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.”

The show is sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Theater Committee, WORT and WSUM. General public tickets start at $18. UW-Madison student tickets are only $10 each. For more information, call the box office at 608-262-2201.

Buy Natacha Atlas’ albums:

• In North America: Mounqaliba, Ana Hina, Best of, Something Dangerous, Gedida, Mish Maoul, Foretold in the Language of Dreams
• In Europe: Mounqaliba, The Best of Natacha Atlas, Ana Hina, Ayeshteni, Mishmaoul, Halim, Gedida, Foretold in the Language of Dreams, Something Dangerous, Diaspora