Yasmine Hamdan

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

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

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Music liberated me.

I'm bored, normally, when I travel.

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

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.

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.

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

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

My family played a part in bringing communism to Lebanon.

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.

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 love Khaliji music; it's very inspiring.

I studied psychology at university.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

I've always fought any form of censorship.

Women are a minority the same way gay people are.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Collaborating with other artists is an emotional thing. Obviously, you don't do it unless this person inspires you.

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.

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

The Arab world is mediatised in a way that gives too much space to these people - puritans, extremists, whatever you want to call them. There are a lot more people like me in the Middle East than you might think.

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

We all have femininity in us.

'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.

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.

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