April 2014
D-CAF Festival, Qasr el-Nile Theater, Cairo
Yasmine Hamdan became known with Soapkills, the Arab indie band she founded in Beirut with fellow musician Zeid Hamdan in the nineties. Soapkills’ music quickly became the soundtrack to a vibrant, young arts scene which developed in postwar Lebanon, and the band gradually acquired an emblematic status. To this day, Yasmine is considered an underground icon throughout the Arab world. After moving to Paris, she worked with Mirwais, CocoRosie and Marc Collin on producing her solo albums, which draw on various Arab and Western music genres and styles, and often use irony and humor for social critique.
In this interview with Medrar.TV, the musician discusses the developments in her music after Soapkills broke up, and how she creatively adapted her voice and lyrics to Western pop music style, without being limited by the pop love songs cliche.
Amira El Masry translated the interview into English.
[This video was produced by Medrar TV and is featured in partnership with Jadaliyya Culture.]