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" Collaborating with other artists is an emotional thing. Obviously, you don't do it unless this person inspires you. "

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" Change means resistance, and resistance means transformation and igniting energies. "

" As an artist, you need to be true to yourself and free and not put yourself in a box that contradicts with what you feel is needed for a song. "

" When I started, I didn't know how to sing in Arabic - it's a very complex and sophisticated music full of codes and modes and quarter-tones. "

" I've always had a sense that I am doing something very important, something vital. "

" The Arabic music I listen to is extremely edgy. Ironic, sarcastic, sensual, erotic. "

" The Arabic world was very interesting in the 1920s to '60s: there was something booming culturally, and I found my culture very desirable when I listened to these songs. "

" I don't relate to what is seen as 'Arab culture.' I relate to what I explore myself, what is around me. "

" I love Khaliji music; it's very inspiring. "

" When I go to Beirut, I don't drive. It's traumatizing to drive there. "

" There are many positive values that come with a Muslim upbringing. But when religion becomes about rules and hierarchies, when it starts to feel like a prison, I'm not interested. "

" Egyptians are quite incredible people. They have everything: the culture, the music, the scenes. So much of Arab music and art started there. "

" For me, a taxi is like a public space because so many people get in that space. "

" I sing 'Beirut' for what the city is for me, but I am also singing as an exile. "

" I have a sense of mission in a way. I've always worked on being free, as a woman and as an artist. "

" My father is an engineer, and my mother raised the three children. "

" I wanted to pursue my own thing - I had desires, ideas I wanted to accomplish, and I needed to be on my own for that. "

" Without freedom and without humor, our cultures can't have a healthy evolution. "

" When I imagine feminine characters in my songs, they're often bold, strong, passionate, militant, witty, sensual, dangerous. I see those characters as skillful witnesses, figures of change and awakening. "

" I sing in Arabic as a statement. It's art, and it's a challenge. "

" 'Al Jamilat' is not just feminist. It's an album with songs that feature women: women who are in love, rebellious women, political activists, women who are more submissive, women who are in charge. "

" When the public doesn't understand me, it's a battle. So when I choose words, I choose them for their musicality, rhythm, and sense, and I choose the right dialect to express that. "

" When I started doing music, it was out of despair and boredom. I got passionate about it, and I felt that it allowed me to become somebody: an artist who explores her different identities. "

" It's complicated for my music to be accepted, even in Lebanon and the Arabic world - I sing in Arabic, but there's no lute, no classical instruments. Maybe with the Internet opening things up, things will change. "

" Back in Kuwait, I had started listening to a lot of English language music: western music, I would say - Kate Bush and Radiohead - and I loved Chet Baker, Etna James, a lot of singers and a lot of bands. "

" Imagine a singer with the virtuosity of Joan Sutherland or Ella Fitzgerald, the public persona of Eleanor Roosevelt, and the audience of Elvis, and you have Umm Kulthum. "

" It's normal; Arab women have always been very active at the forefront of culture - as film producers since the 1920s; as singers, dancers, choreographers, writers for much longer than that. "

" I had an Arabic background. but I lived a very scattered childhood. I didn't belong to any one culture, which meant I didn't have musical geographies in my head. "

" Faith is a very intimate process that involves being sincere and truthful to a spiritual presence. "

" My dad was a brilliant civil engineer. My parents later divorced, but we lived in Abu Dhabi, Greece, Kuwait. "

" With Soapkills, we were lucky. We started at a time of transition where things were not ready, nothing was available. "