Yasmine Hamdan

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

“I studied psychology at university.”

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

“I've always fought any form of censorship.”

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

“I don't believe that there is a separation between art and political consciousness.”

“I wanted to pursue my own thing - I had desires, ideas I wanted to accomplish, and I needed to be on my own for that.”

“Music liberated me.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

“I love Khaliji music; it's very inspiring.”

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

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

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

“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 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.”