Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

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

Related Quotes:

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

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" I was raised by strong women, and the role models I had in music and cinema were strong, too - liberated and provocative. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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 relate to what is seen as 'Arab culture.' I relate to what I explore myself, what is around me. "

" I set the bar very high. I'm very tough on myself. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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 Muslim but not really. My family did not care. And I always managed to skip religion classes when I was living in the Gulf, even when they were obligatory. "

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

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

" 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. "

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

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

" We all have femininity in us. "

" 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. "

" 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. "