Band
Alabina > B

Alabina is a French-based group that performs a mix of world music: Middle Eastern, Arabic, French, Hebrew, and Spanish Gypsy music. Alabina consists of the Israeli lead singer Ishtar, who does the female vocals, and the band Los Niños de Sara, who provide male vocals and music. Although the name of the group is often written "Alabína", the accent on the "i" is an unnecessary addition. The mistake may be attributed to the group's use of the font ... Papyrus on its album covers. In this font, dotted i's look as though they carry accents. Alabina's music mixes many styles, cultures, and languages: Middle Eastern, Spanish music, French, raï, Flamenco, Gypsy, Arabic, Israeli and at times, Western pop. The group often takes older songs, for example, "Habibi Ya Nour El Ain" the Arabic song of Amr Diab, and adds a mix of styles and languages and Alabina's own flavor. The new version, "Habibi de Mis Amores" in both Arabic and Spanish, is one example. Another example is "Lolole (Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood)", which Alabina turned into an upbeat Arabic-Spanish song, which though it can be recognized from the melody, is far from its original: a Western pop song in English. The song "Alabina" is well known in France for being the end credits music in the French comedies La Vérité si je mens! and La Vérité si je mens! 2. Their single "Ole y ola" reached number 19 on the French music charts in 1997 and was certified silver. The single "Alabina" spent 21 weeks on the charts, peaking at 29. See more [+]