RIP Natasja Saad 1974-2007

Natasja aka Natasha's vocal of the (funky) house anthem Calabria 2007 is without doubt one of my favourite tracks of this year. The second tune of hers I heard, Long Time on Sly & Robbie's relick of the classic Darker Shade of Black reggae riddim highlighted that here was an excellent and versatile reggae artist who I'd never come across before.

When checking out her Myspace page last month to see what her other music was like, I was shocked and saddened to see that she had died in June this year, apparently in a car accident in Jamaica. Having since heard a bunch of her old tunes and seen videos of her live performances, it's clear to me that major success could and should have been just around the corner. Her distinctive, nasal voice, lyrics that range from positive and thoughtful to fun and sexy, and an engaging stage presence make her stand out, especially in a dancehall reggae world that is so male-dominated.

Although only now making waves in Jamaica and internationally, Natasja was certainly no newcomer to reggae music and had been a star in her native Denmark for years. Only in her early thirties when she died, Natasja had been performing for 20 years since her stage debut in Copenhagen aged 13 and helped to pioneer dancehall music in Denmark as part of the group No Name Requested alongside Miss Mukupa and McEmzee.

In 2006, Natasja entered Jamaican radio station Irie FM’s influential Big Break talent contest, beating off competition from 700 other entrants to become the first non-Jamaican ever to win the contest. Recently she'd performed at Jamaica's legendary reggae festivals Sting and Reggae Sumfest as well - you can see footage of some of these events in the Behind The Scenes In Jamaica video.

Recording in both Danish and English, and clearly equally at home on uptempo dance music or riding foundation reggae rhythms, Natasja's releases include the Latino pop styles of My Dogg, uplifting reggae tune Op Med Ho'det, sunny bashment hit Summercute, Cigar with hip hop/reggae group Bikstok Røgsystem and Time 2 Fly on Germaican Records' Rodeo dancehall riddim, plus her 2005 debut solo album, Release.

Visit her Myspace page to hear her riding the Wipe Out bashment riddim in Danish, an ode to the herb called 1 Spliff A Day, Calabria 2007 and Long Time (labelled 'Release' on the music player). Many of the videos linked to above are also collected together here, though the accompanying text is written in Danish.

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Saturday 03 November 2007