Sting’s 1999 hit ‘Desert Rose’ features Algerian raï singer Cheb Mami and remains a unique blend of Western and Arabic music elements. The song is a standout track from Sting’s album ‘Brand New Day,’ and it not only achieved chart success but also revealed a lesser-known story of artistic collaboration.
The Story Behind ‘Desert Rose’
‘Desert Rose’s story began with Sting’s exploration of Raï music, a folk genre originating in Algeria. Raï music, dating back to the 1920s, is known for its modernization of traditional Islamic values. Sting, deeply influenced by this style, frequented North Paris clubs that specialized in Raï. This experience sowed the seeds for ‘Desert Rose,’ which he first intended as a tribute to this music genre. According to Sting’s own website, he came up with the song’s melody by chance, and it had a Sufi idea as a theme as well:
“I was in my studio with my musicians, jamming around and having fun. I came up with a kind of arabesque melody, and it turned into a song called ‘Desert Rose.’ It’s a song about longing, a kind of Sufi idea — romantic love as an analog for the greater love of God. Anyway, I was trying to shoehorn English lyrics into this Arab feel, and it didn’t seem to have any authenticity. It just seemed false.”
What led to the song’s eventual creation was Sting’s meeting with Cheb Mami, an Algerian artist whose work in Raï music had garnered attention in Paris. Sting, impressed by Mami’s vocal style, invited him to collaborate on the song. According to the musician, the synergy between him and Mami was apparent despite the language barrier. Here are Sting’s own words on the birth of ‘Desert Rose’:
“I spent most of last year listening to Cheb Mami, the great Arabic singer, who has an incredible, swooping voice that just mesmerizes. A friend introduced us, it was love at first sight, and, rather impetuously, as lovesick musicians often do, we jumped right into the studio together. I had a melody to a song called ‘Desert Rose’ and asked him to improvise a bit; he created a lovely counterpoint, and everything took off from there.
The amazing thing is — he didn’t understand a word I was singing. But the lyric he improvised was almost the same as mine — it had to do with lost love and longing — which goes to show how the music suggested to us individually the exact same emotion. It cuts across all cultures, whether you’re Arabic, Western European, Japanese, or African. Music is the universal tongue.”
So, despite the language barrier, both artists, unbeknownst to each other, came up with lyrics around the themes of longing and lost love.
Sting’s Opinions On The Song
Upon its release, ‘Desert Rose’ achieved notable chart success across various countries, including Canada, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, and the US. Critics lauded the song for its blend of Western and Arabic elements and its unique sound compared to the rest of the ‘Brand New Day’ album.
Directed by Paul Boyd, the music video also enhanced the song’s exotic aura with its settings in the Mojave Desert and a Las Vegas nightclub. Interestingly, Sting was advised against keeping the Arabic intro of the song, as it was thought to hinder its success in America. On his website, he explained why he decided to keep it:
“I was very happy and surprised that the song did so well. I was advised by a record company person to take the Arabic intro off. He said, ‘It will never be a hit in America if you leave that strange intro on; people don’t like that sort of thing. So it was a calculated risk, and I was glad to prove him wrong. Looking back, it was this unusual intro that got people interested in the song because it’s a very compelling rhythm and sound.”
Despite its blend of musical styles, Sting resisted ‘Desert Rose’ being labeled as ‘world music,’ as he aimed to defy categorization with it:
“I don’t really like the term ‘world music.’ … It’s really not a term that I would entertain at all. On the other hand, I’ve always been able to assimilate influences and make them apply to my expression. I never feel that I have to pretend to be anything. I can hear music, assimilate it, understand it, and then produce something different.
I’d rather say that my ambition is to defy the titles that people make for you. I don’t do world music or reggae — I do whatever I do. But it’s true that ‘Desert Rose’ has a definite Arabic, north African flavor, but it’s one song out of 10. The other songs are very different from that.”
Sting’s approach to creating ‘Desert Rose’ was characterized by a focus on music composition first, followed by lyric writing. He likened his process to a sculptor who starts with raw material and gradually uncovers the form within. After revealing the song’s origin, Sting revealed how he came up with the album itself:
“So, the music suggested those words. It was a sort of unconscious and automatic process. I always considered that it was the music that wrote the text. For this album, more than all the others, I began by writing the music, then I went walking, and this music suggested a character, a story. Like a sculptor who kneads his material, then notices a nose, a leg. It’s longer but more organic.”
Apart from being a music hit, ‘Desert Rose’ was also used in a Jaguar commercial, which you can watch here.
Today, ‘Desert Rose’ has over 420 million views and 2 million likes on YouTube and almost 120 million streams on Spotify. It represents a bridge between different cultures and musical traditions while proving that music can indeed be a universal language.
Below, you can watch Sting tell ‘Desert Rose’s story in his words.
