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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Very

Interesting

Culture

" We all have femininity in us. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Femininity

" I have learned to create from a hybridized point of view. It's an asset - something rather liberating. "

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

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

" 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. "

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

" World music can be sometimes like the lumber room in which all the non-English singers are dumped. When you are singing in Arabic, no matter what your style of music or artistic proposition is, you are faced with some of that reality. "

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

" It's interesting to be at once an insider and outsider. It's a way of learning how to find your way freely without the need of conforming or belonging. "

" There should be no borders, race, colours, or ethnical considerations when it comes to music and creativity. "

" 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. "

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

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Because

" I went from the most underground band in the world to signing with Madonna's producer and a record label that is extremely mainstream - it was interesting. "

" When it comes to the lyrics, I write about my own perception of things and use characters for that. "

" Music liberated me. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Music

Liberated

" 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. "

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Drive

Beirut

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

" I think our societies - to certain extent, of course, and to different degrees, but almost with no exception - have always been struggling to come to terms with archaic traditions. "

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

" 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'm bored, normally, when I travel. "

" I studied psychology at university. "

" I was born in the middle of Lebanon's civil war. "

" '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

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

" 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. "

" My family played a part in bringing communism to Lebanon. "