The proverbial hype-machine in Egypt is relentless when it comes to musical imports, but few musicians that have caught the imagination of the discerning Egyptian public like OUM in the run up to gigs at El Genaina Theatre and Cairo Jazz Club. Hailing from Casablanca, Morocco, and currently on the last leg of her Soul of Morocco world tour, Cairo Gossip sits down with one of the most unique artists to grace a stage in Egypt, to talk about her upcoming album, architecture and what's on her iPod....

Soul of Morocco has been causing quite a stir - did you approach the album any differently to your previous releases?

Soul of Morocco is my third album and the first to be sold outside of Morocco. I decided to include some songs from my first and second albums, and to re-arrange them with an acoustic band. It’s my first international album and I've tried to mix many sounds together and to fuse them with various instruments. I’m introducing myself through the Soul of Morocco. This is who I am and this is my culture in all its colours – that’s the story of Soul of Morocco.

You're currently on a world tour – what is it like for you to play your music across the world?

We’ve been touring for Soul of Morocco for a year now and these are the last concerts of the tour until August. I think it’s a challenge playing to different cultures and crowds and it goes far beyond language to touch people musically.

I believe we are all similar, despite where we come from. It doesn’t matter who we play for, whether it’s a Swiss audience or an Egyptian one; the crowds feel the same way. It’s interesting to feel and feed off the reactions of the crowd.

Agreed - it's especially interesting with you're music and the way you fuse genres and sounds. Was this always a deliberate approach or did it evolve more organically?

I think it was just something that was ‘meant to be’ when I reached a certain point in my career. This is my culture, my country and because our history is full of different influences, this fusion came as no surprise - it just happened naturally.