She has been hailed as ‘Arabic Music’s Modern Voice’ by NYT. But the journey has been a long a one. Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan began her career in post-civil war Beirut.
She formed a band in 1997, Soapkills, as an emerging music scene took root. Soapkills, the first indie/electronic band of its kind in the Middle East, has been credited as being the most influential electronic band to emerge from the Beirut scene.
Hamdan, however not content with that success alone, moved on from Soapkills to become a successful solo artist and her career took her to France, where she records for a Belgian label. Her two albums 2013’s Ya Nass (Hey People), and Al Jamilat (The Beautiful Ones), released earlier this year have both captivated audiences across the world.
She’s performed prestigious shows on four continents (including a series of performances for the launch of the Jim Jarmusch movie ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’, in which she’s featured singing, onscreen, in one of the film’s most memorable scenes).
While her vocals are definitely connected to traditions of Arabic music (to which she takes an unconventional and fresh approach), the structures and arrangements of the songs are very remote from its codes, and take in elements from contemporary Western electronic, pop and folk music.
Hamdan, who is featured in the June episode of ‘Inside the Middle East’, returns to her roots to take the viewers through her city, Beruit and talks about how it has inspired her music. Her latest album’s music video was filmed here. “I always come back because I have an audience here, this is where I started and I’m linked to it and this is where I get my vitamins - a big amount of my inspiration… A part of me is always in this place.”
In this interview she talks about her inspirations, her icon status and what it means to be a woman in a man’s world…
This story is from the July 2017 edition of The Woman.
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This story is from the July 2017 edition of The Woman.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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