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" 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. "

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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

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

" The Arabic music I listen to is extremely edgy. Ironic, sarcastic, sensual, erotic. "

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

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

" 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

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

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

" 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 believe that there is a separation between art and political consciousness. "

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

Yasmine Hamdan

Character

Women

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

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

" 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. "

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

" We all have femininity in us. "

Yasmine Hamdan

Femininity

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

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

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

" I'm inspired by many artists whose language I don't understand. "

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