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" I always had this crisis: where do I come from? I was never an insider, never an outsider; I was always in the middle. But it means I never have borders in my head. "

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" 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. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Childhood

Culture

Lived

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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 don't think there is only one Arab culture or a pure Arabness. We are very multiple, especially our generation, which is very multilayered. "

" When I read the Koran or hear it read, the images and the poetry, the sound of the language is very inspiring. "

" If you have a drummer who alternates between fast and slow drumming, it can negatively affect the music. "

" Women are a minority the same way gay people are. "

" I follow my desires, and I'm prepared to take the consequences. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Desires

Consequences

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

" You do not start by working on society; you start by yourself to be a freer person and a more independent person. "

" The Arab world is mediatised in a way that gives too much space to these people - puritans, extremists, whatever you want to call them. There are a lot more people like me in the Middle East than you might think. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Space

World

" 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. "

" I am interested in exploring encounters where worlds meet and not where they separate. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Choose

Words

" I don't believe that there is a separation between art and political consciousness. "

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

" Every time I go to Beirut, I see people and the quality of life going slowly from bad to worse, and from worse to even worse. "

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

" I met Jim Jarmusch when I started recording my album 'Ya Nass.' He was writing the script for 'Only Lovers Left Alive.' Jarmusch was always a great inspiration to me, way before meeting him. Working with him was fantastic. "

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Culture

Explore

" '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. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Women

Just

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

" Music liberated me. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Music

Liberated

" A lot of Arabic composers such as Mohammed Abdel Wahab mixed sounds and instruments from all over the world. It's important to be able to propose new ways and new sounds without being stigmatised, censored or put aside. "

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

" I'm inspired by many artists whose language I don't understand. "

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