Lebanese composer and singer Yasmine Hamdan. (Credit: Ylias Nao)
When we met Yasmine Hamdan in Paris last June, she was promoting her new album, I Remember, I Forget. At the time, Ziad Rahbani was still alive. We mention this because, now that this musical giant is gone, his passing underscores how deeply connected the two artists were.Though from different generations, both reshaped Lebanese music in their own way — breaking conventions, reinventing sounds, and creating something that hadn’t existed before. In short, both led quiet revolutions.During the Civil War, Rahbani shattered expectations by defying his family’s legacy and producing work that was subversive, political, and musically groundbreaking — fusing Arabic tarab with jazz.At the turn of the 2000s, Hamdan did something similar. First with her band Soap Kills, then as a solo artist, she disrupted a musical landscape crowded with war...
When we met Yasmine Hamdan in Paris last June, she was promoting her new album, I Remember, I Forget. At the time, Ziad Rahbani was still alive. We mention this because, now that this musical giant is gone, his passing underscores how deeply connected the two artists were.Though from different generations, both reshaped Lebanese music in their own way — breaking conventions, reinventing sounds, and creating something that hadn’t existed before. In short, both led quiet revolutions.During the Civil War, Rahbani shattered expectations by defying his family’s legacy and producing work that was subversive, political, and musically groundbreaking — fusing Arabic tarab with jazz.At the turn of the 2000s, Hamdan did something similar. First with her band Soap Kills, then as a solo artist, she disrupted a musical landscape crowded with...
'American sponsorship is a guarantee,' says Lebanese-American coordination committee