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

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" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

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

" I've always had a sense that I am doing something very important, something vital. "

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

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

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" '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. "

" 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. "

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

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

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

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