Natusha: the Meneíto queen who conquered Latin American radio

From France to Venezuelan lambada

Nathalie Dias Rodrigues de Graça was born on 10 March 1966 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, on the outskirts of Paris, the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat. She grew up among languages —speaking French, Portuguese, English, Italian and Spanish— and at seventeen moved to Brazil, where she discovered bossa nova and the tropical rhythms that would shape the rest of her career.

Producer Luis Alva heard her sing at a hotel in Brazil and brought her to Venezuela. The first attempt, under the name “Nathalie y su Grupo Bragas Rojas,” went nowhere. The second did: in 1990, now as Natusha fronting Kondor Band on the EMI-Rodven label, she landed on Venezuelan television at once.

“El Meneíto”

In 1991 came her first major solo hit, “Tú la tienes que pagar,” and a year later, on the album “Re Mix” (1992), she released the song that would make her a continent-wide phenomenon: “El Meneíto.” That same year she recorded the duet “Una pena tengo yo” with Roberto Antonio, sang alongside Billo's Caracas Boys, and performed at the Viña del Mar Festival.

The formula —tecnomerengue with a lambada edge, choreography included— earned her the title she is still remembered by: the Queen of El Meneíto, also called the Queen of Lambada. Working with producer and keyboardist Jesús Enrique González, she recorded five albums —among them “Natusha 94,” “Natusha Remix 1,” “Natusha Remix 2” and “Natusha Sol y Luna”— that earned her gold and platinum records in several countries.

A hit that filled radio, television and dancefloors alike

Kondor Band, and later Natusha as a solo act, were no niche phenomenon: they were on Venezuelan television from the very start and spread across the Americas and Spain, with stops at festivals as major as Viña del Mar. “El Meneíto,” “Rumba Lambada” and “Sei Sei” topped the radio charts in several countries at once.

And, like any radio hit of those years, it also reached Venezuelan minitecas, where tecnomerengue —short tracks, a fast beat, choreography anyone could pick up— was a required part of any discjockey's repertoire. But reducing Natusha to a miniteca dancefloor would be selling her short: she was, above all, a continent-wide radio and television phenomenon.

The farewell to the stage

Natusha's career tracked almost exactly with the rise of tecnomerengue: from 1990 to 1997, as the record industry shifted from vinyl to compact disc. In 1997 she retired from music and, in time, left the stage name behind too. Today, as Nathalie Dias, she directs the newspaper “A Voz de Loulé” in Quarteira, Portugal, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Natusha — «El Meneíto» (Video Oficial, 1992)

Period promotional photograph — CMTK Archive.