Yasmine Hamdan

Yasmine Hamdan

Hamdan performing in 2013
Background information
Born 1976 (age 40–41)
Origin Lebanon
Genres Electronica, Trip hop, Arabic
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, actress
Years active 1997–present
Associated acts Soapkills
Yasmine Hamdan
At Aarhus Festival 2015 (Denmark)
(Photo Hreinn Gudlaugsson)

Yasmine Hamdan is a Lebanese singer, songwriter and actress, now based in Paris. She became known with Soapkills, the duo she founded with Zeid Hamdan (no relation) while she was still living in Beirut, Lebanon. The first album released by Soapkills was Bater (1999).[1] Soapkills was one of the very first independent electronic bands in the Middle East, and its innovative approach exerted a lasting influence. To this day, Yasmine Hamdan is considered an icon of underground music across the Arab world.[2][3]

After moving to Paris, Hamdan collaborated with CocoRosie. She teamed up with Mirwais (who was part of French electronic new wave band Taxi Girl in the 80s, and produced/co-wrote some of Madonna's albums), with whom she recorded the Arabology album (2008), under the Y.A.S. moniker.

Hamdan then joined forces with Marc Collin (of Nouvelle Vague) to write and produce her first, self-titled solo album, which came out in France and Lebanon in 2012 on Kwaidan Records), and was released internationally (in a revised version with five new tracks) in 2013 by Crammed Discs under the title Ya Nass. In this album, which blends pop, folk and electronic sounds with melodies and lyrics inspired by various Middle-Eastern traditions, Hamdan "has undertaken the challenge of affirming and rewriting Arabic musical heritage", according to the Al-Akhbar paper.[4] Her personal life (she has lived in Lebanon, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Greece and France) and her curiosity have enabled Hamdan to playfully use various dialects of Arabic in her lyrics, which alternate between Lebanese, Kuwaiti, Palestinian, Egyptian and Bedouin, as well as some of the code-switching which is so typical of Middle-Eastern humour.[5][6][7]

Hamdan had a cameo in Jim Jarmusch's film[8] Only Lovers Left Alive alongside Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston. She has written an original soundtrack for the theatre play Rituel pour une métamorphose by Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous for a production at Comédie Française.[9]

She is married to the Palestinian film director and actor Elia Suleiman and lives in Paris.[10]

Discography

with Soap Kills
with Y.A.S.
Yasmine Hamdan, concert in Berlin, 2017
Solo recordings

Film music

References

  1. ↑ "Yasmine Hamdan - Farklı Müzik". Farklimuzik.com. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  2. ↑ "Yasmine Hamdan Collaborates With Marc Collin". Rollingstoneme.com. 2011-12-07. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  3. ↑ "Arabic Music's Modern Voice". International Herald Tribune. 13 April 2012 – via The New York Times.
  4. ↑ "Yasmine Hamdan: Musical Tradition With an Attitude". Al Akhbar English. 2012-04-27. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  5. ↑ "Leçon de géographie intérieure avec Yasmine Hamdan". mondomix. 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  6. ↑ Par Marie Ottavi (2012-05-21). "Yasmine Hamdan, l'envol pop Next". Next.liberation.fr. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  7. ↑ http://www.brownbook.me/yasmine-hamdan/
  8. ↑ "REORIENT - Middle Eastern Arts and Culture Magazine".
  9. ↑ "Rituel pour une métamorphose".
  10. ↑ Saad, Shirine (3 August 2013). "Childhood wanderings influence Yasmine Hamdan's third album". The National. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
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