Sapho returned to music in 1985 with "Passions, passons", which saw her leaving the rock sound of her previous albums to embrace the Middle Eastern sounds she had grown up with, leading to a series of concerts at "Le Bataclan" (Paris). There she began performing her arrangements of songs made popular by the great Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum. The next few years saw Sapho branching out further. Living for a while in Mexico, she released "El Sol y la luna", which features a duet with the Argentinian singer, Jairo.