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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. "

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" 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. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Always

Different

Think

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

" 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 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 fought any form of censorship. "

" Because of the Lebanese civil war, I had a scattered childhood. I had to build my own connections to each country we moved to. "

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

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

" I had the urge to face my own limitation, and I needed to be bigger. I needed to be more professional and be in a more competitive environment because I wanted to grow as an artist. That's why I went to Europe. "

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

" I studied psychology at university. "

" All of the Arabic women I grew up listening to or watching had a very strong character. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Character

Women

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" We all have femininity in us. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Femininity

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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 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. "

" Singing is a very sensual activity! You engage in it with all your senses and your heart. "

" Music liberated me. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Music

Liberated

" 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. "

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Because

" 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. "

" There is something spiritual about art that connects us with ourselves and with others; it's really about coming together and creating bridges. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Bridges

Together