Yasmine Hamdan - Ya Nass (2013)

Debut solo album by Yasmine Hamdan, written and produced in collaboration with Marc Collin (Nouvelle Vague). Yasmine is considered as an underground icon throughout the Arab world ever since Soap kills, the emblematic duo she founded in Beyrouth, which must have been the first Indie/Electronic band to appear in the Middle East, and whose music had become the soundtrack to the vibrant, young arts scene which developed in postwar Lebanon. After moving to Paris, Yasmine recorded the Arabology album with musician/producer Mirwais (of Madonna fame), under the Y.A.S. moniker, and also collaborated with Coco Rosie for a while.

Since forming electro duo Soapkills in the late 1990s, Beirut-born Hamdan has been reimagining Arabic tradition for modern times. This solo debut, made with French producer Marc Collin, updates the intense, sensual style of bygone divas such as Oum Kalthoum with elan, setting her sultry voice to acoustic-cum-synth arrangements and mixing antique songs with her own. There's plenty of dreamy pop, like "Deny " and "Samar", but also political commentary on In Kan Fouadi (a 40s number) and longing and danger, nowhere more than Hal, written for Jim Jarmusch's imminent vampire flick Only Lovers Left Alive, where Hamdan has a cameo.