Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Music liberated me.
We all have femininity in us.
I studied psychology at university.
I'm bored, normally, when I travel.
I've always fought any form of censorship.
I love Khaliji music; it's very inspiring.
I was born in the middle of Lebanon's civil war.
Women are a minority the same way gay people are.
I set the bar very high. I'm very tough on myself.
My family played a part in bringing communism to Lebanon.
I follow my desires, and I'm prepared to take the consequences.
I sing in Arabic as a statement. It's art, and it's a challenge.
My father is an engineer, and my mother raised the three children.
When I go to Beirut, I don't drive. It's traumatizing to drive there.
Without freedom and without humor, our cultures can't have a healthy evolution.
I sing 'Beirut' for what the city is for me, but I am also singing as an exile.
For me, a taxi is like a public space because so many people get in that space.
I've always had a sense that I am doing something very important, something vital.
Change means resistance, and resistance means transformation and igniting energies.
I don't believe that there is a separation between art and political consciousness.
The Arabic music I listen to is extremely edgy. Ironic, sarcastic, sensual, erotic.
I am interested in exploring encounters where worlds meet and not where they separate.
All of the Arabic women I grew up listening to or watching had a very strong character.
Singing is a very sensual activity! You engage in it with all your senses and your heart.
I have a sense of mission in a way. I've always worked on being free, as a woman and as an artist.
Faith is a very intimate process that involves being sincere and truthful to a spiritual presence.
When it comes to the lyrics, I write about my own perception of things and use characters for that.
I have learned to create from a hybridized point of view. It's an asset - something rather liberating.
I don't relate to what is seen as 'Arab culture.' I relate to what I explore myself, what is around me.
If you have a drummer who alternates between fast and slow drumming, it can negatively affect the music.
There should be no borders, race, colours, or ethnical considerations when it comes to music and creativity.
My dad was a brilliant civil engineer. My parents later divorced, but we lived in Abu Dhabi, Greece, Kuwait.
When I read the Koran or hear it read, the images and the poetry, the sound of the language is very inspiring.
You do not start by working on society; you start by yourself to be a freer person and a more independent person.
Collaborating with other artists is an emotional thing. Obviously, you don't do it unless this person inspires you.
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 was raised by strong women, and the role models I had in music and cinema were strong, too - liberated and provocative.
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.
Because of the Lebanese civil war, I had a scattered childhood. I had to build my own connections to each country we moved to.
When I started, I didn't know how to sing in Arabic - it's a very complex and sophisticated music full of codes and modes and quarter-tones.
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.
Egyptians are quite incredible people. They have everything: the culture, the music, the scenes. So much of Arab music and art started there.
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.
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 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 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'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.
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 always had this crisis: where do I come from? I was never an insider, never an outsider; I was always in the middle. But it means I never have borders in my head.
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.