Anouk Aiata - La Femme Mangeuse Des Nuages Du Ciel (2013)

After years spent in the obscurity of small Parisian venues, the French singer can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. When opportunity came knocking a year ago, she grabbed it with both hands. Her vibrant EP, released in October, serves as a prelude to a near-completed album due for release in 2013
Anouk Aïata has something about her. She brings together with virtuosity flamenco, hip-hop, gospel, jazz, and folk and gypsy rhythms in perfect harmony. ‘Finding a pigeonhole to put me in is the record stores’s problem, not mine,’ resolves the artist in a fit of laughter. Anouk Aïata’s voice has a deep, low timbre: ‘It’s my weapon,’ she smiles, while pulling back her long dark hair. The stage name ‘Anouk Aïata’ is Maori for ‘the woman who eats the clouds in the sky’. The name befits her guileless, melancholic and transient lyrics. Above all the singer harbours rock-hard determination and is more than a little eccentric.
Last chance saloon
Anouk has no problem with wearing a coonskin hat in the Why Are You Looking At The Moon (’Pourquoi regardes tu la lune?’) video. Anouk unabashedly changes the subject by confessing that she has just started hypnosis to ‘stop eating - apparently it can work,’ she chuckles. She had her first session just this morning, but by lunchtime the hearty Mediterranean salad doesn’t seem to be reaping the benefits. ‘It must take a while to start working,’ she smirks between mouthfuls. Anouk is hip, hippy and esoteric; anything but staid. In fact she is glowing, and with good reason: this year she signed to the French music label Barclay. But her melting-pot melodies came close to never being heard at all.