Album: Natacha Atlas, Habibi: Classics and Collaborations (Nascente)

Collaborators here span from mild-mannered multi-instrumentalists (Andrew Cronshaw) to a grumpy old punk (Jah Wobble), not to mention the Wizard of Real World himself, Peter Gabriel.

But the true measure of this Moroccan, Egyptian, Palestinian singer's talent is that her sensuous serpentine voice coils its way around a diverse set of songs, from the heavily groove-centered to the ethereally acoustic, making each one her own.