Natacha Atlas & Samy Bishai

Natacha Atlas and Samy Bishai form a singular artistic partnership at the intersection of cultures, disciplines, and timelines. Partners in life and creation, their collaboration is rooted in a shared Anglo-Egyptian heritage and a deep mutual understanding of living between worlds. They first met in 2008 while touring together, an encounter that marked the beginning of a long-standing creative dialogue shaped by trust, curiosity, and a shared musical language.

Natacha Atlas is internationally celebrated as one of contemporary music’s most iconic and unmistakable voices. Seamlessly fusing Western and Middle Eastern vocal traditions, she transcends genre—interweaving Arabic song, jazz, and daring modern experimentation into a sound entirely her own.

Spanning fifteen solo albums and more than fifty collaborations, her career is both expansive and influential, featuring work alongside Peter Gabriel, Nitin Sawhney, Nigel Kennedy, Jean-Michel Jarre, Ibrahim Maalouf, Omar Sosa, and Paolo Fresu.

Her artistry has garnered major international honours, including a Victoire de la Musique, and she has performed on some of the world’s most iconic stages—from Jarre’s Millennium Concert at the Pyramids of Giza to major international film soundtracks.

Samy Bishai is an Egyptian violinist, composer, producer, and musical director trained in both Western and Arabic classical traditions. After relocating to London in 1999, he developed a wide-ranging musical practice spanning jazz, improvisation, electronic music, rock, pop, and experimental forms. His collaborations include artists such as Tom Jones, Shakira, Basement Jaxx, Seckou Keita, and Carleen Anderson, alongside extensive work as a composer, arranger, and producer.

Since 2010, Bishai has served as Natacha Atlas’s musical director, co-writing, producing, and arranging several of her albums, including The Inner and the Outer. Their collaboration extends beyond recorded music into contemporary dance and stage creation, notably composing the score for Les Nuits by Angelin Preljocaj and Odyssey by Hervé Koubi, as well as music for fashion and visual art contexts.

Their latest project, Parallel Universe – Volume 1, brings their long-evolving collaboration into sharp focus. Conceived as the first chapter in an ongoing series, the album explores alternate timelines through a boldly modern vision of Arabic pop, electronic production, and bilingual songwriting. Parallel Universe – Volume 1 will be released in June 2026.