Feel Like It

Feel Like It takes musical flavors from the East, West, and other places and fuses them with electronic dance beats and the smooth, assured vocals of Mera. The instrumentation is largely provided by producer Shad Rabanni (the synthesizers he uses are not credited, unfortunately), but there are nice touches provided by traditional instruments such as guitar, oude, and even soprano saxophone on the moody jazz-pop "Your Eyes," one of the album's best numbers. Other highlights include the title song and "Kieh Kieh," both of which mate Middle Eastern music, dance beats, and reggae toasting; "Ole," which combines flamenco and disco rhythms; and "Nina G," a song about a legendary singer who may or may not be real. The songs are sung in five languages — Arabic, French, Farsi, Spanish, and English — although the lyrics, printed in the CD liner, do not include translations in most cases. But the lively dance beats, variety of musical influences, and Mera's beguiling vocal presence should keep listeners happy whether they understand the words or not.