It’s Monday, that means it’s another piece of the Elsehere Soundtrack and this week’s track is the Sting/Cheb Mami duet Desert Rose.

Sting probably needs little introduction. The other vocalist on the track, Cheb Mami, probably requires a bit more: he’s an Algerian musician, singer and song writer whose primary genre is Raï (Algerian folk music style originating in 1920s Oran) and whose work carries influences from all around the Mediterranean. Desert Rose was a duet recorded by the pair for Sting’s album A Brand New Day and was a fairly sizable hit in early 2000.

I’ve had a long relationship with this track (yes, going all the way back to its release) and it quite often forms a part of my general writing soundtrack without being specifically relevant to the project. I love the mystery and the magical feel of the music, Cheb Mami’s vocals and Sting’s lyrics combined together. Simply put: it’s high on my list of favourite ever pieces of music, I think it’s really cool and I adore it.

In the case of Sekhmet, it’s not just into the soundtrack because I think it’s a really cool piece of music. The lyrics tie in with Nick’s story and background and this is one of those cases where the song inspired the story and the story inspired me to listen to the song (again!).

The Elsehere Soundtrack on Spotify has been updated to add this in.

That’s all for now. Happy reading and listening!