Alabina

The musical group Alabina developed a unique style by combining seemingly dissimilar elements from very different musical traditions into a new sound. The group consists of frontwoman Ishtar, an Israeli singer, and the band Los Niños de Sara, which features four French Gypsy cousins who sing in Spanish and play various instruments. Their debut album, 1996’s Alabina, laid out there sound which mixes aspects of Middle Eastern, flamenco, Spanish, French, and Gypsy musical heritages, often by taking old songs in one tradition and infusing them with sounds from another. The single, “Alabina” became a hit in France. Their follow-up album, 1998’s Album 2, successfully added more Euro-centric dance beats to their sound and featured a perfect example of their ability to refit old songs with new sounds on their version of the old Animals’ classic “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. They released one more album of new material, 1999’s Sahara, before Ishtar began a solo career. The group issued both a best-of and a remix album in the early 2000s.