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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "