As a teenager, Najat Aatabou became known as a powerful singers of Berber and Arabic songs, and her parents were not happy. She had been recorded singing at a family party and the cassettes, just under the name Najat, were selling in the market and inspiring curiosity. The family rift was sufficiently serious that Aatabou left Khemisset and moved to Casablanca. This is when talent scout Hajj Houssein discovered her and began to help her fashion a real artistic career for herself.

Aatabou gradually reconciled with her family, in part by making it clear to them that her music upheld, rather than challenged moral messages: don't drink; don't smoke; don't be lose with men. The family drama is exactly the sort of thing that inspired her to write songs as her career began to take off. Aatabou composes her songs in her native language, but then translates them into Arabic or French. Recording both with orchestral backing and the spare staccato rhythms of the bendir frame drum and plucked-string, percussive lotar, Aatabou has evolved her songs of heartbreak and loneliness into humorous, frank tales of urban romance.

As her popularity has spread throughout the Maghreb, Aatabou has become particularly aware of her importance to women in the region. She encourages them to claim freedom, but to use it responsibly, not sacrificing self-respect. She is a dynamic performer who generates joyous energy that belies her strict, sober lifestyle. Aatabou says that her most important musical influence is the Berber singer Hamou Yazidi, whom she has listened to since childhood. She now lives in Casablanca.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre