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" 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. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Passionate

Change

Bold

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" I've always fought any form of censorship. "

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

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

" I studied psychology at university. "

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

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

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Character

Women

" 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 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

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

" 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 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Drive

Beirut

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" Maybe I was blessed that my main drive was purely selfish. I needed to make something, make my life better, wider, have poetry in my life, have something that gives me hope on an everyday basis. That was my main drive all along, really. "

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

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

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Because

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

" 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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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