A landmark of mid-2000s Arabic pop, rebuilt as melodic Afro-house — and the origin story involves an impromptu party in a Paris coffee shop.
Romanian artist INNA has released a dance-pop remake of Nancy Ajram’s iconic 2006 hit ‘Ya Tabtab’, reimagining the Nancy Ajram’s original remains a landmark of mid-2000s Arabic pop. Produced by Paris-based DJ and producer Char Bell, the new version transforms the song’s original sound into a vibrant fusion of dance-pop, melodic Afro-house, and contemporary electronic music.
The original ‘Ya Tabtab’, produced by Tarek Madkour, was built on a blend of traditional and modern elements, featuring instruments such as the darbuka, oud, accordion, and live strings layered with early digital synthesizers. Deeply rooted in Egyptian musicality despite Ajram’s Lebanese background, the song utilized Egyptian colloquial dialect and folk-inspired rhythmic patterns such as Maqsum and Saidi, giving it a distinct regional identity.
Speaking on Instagram about the collaboration, INNA revealed that she first met Char Bell shortly before a concert in Paris after he produced a remix of her hit ‘Sun Is Up’. She recalled visiting a specialty coffee shop where an impromptu party had broken out, describing it as unlike anything she had ever seen. There, Char Bell was playing Arabic music, inspiring her idea to record an Arabic-language remix and ultimately leading to their collaboration on ‘Ya Tabtab’. With more than 10 billion streams worldwide and a career spanning nearly two decades, INNA continues to expand her global reach, bringing one of the Arab world’s most recognizable pop songs to international dance floors.
