Yasmine Hamdan: Artist You Should Know

KCRW DJ Chris Douridas is filling in for Jason Bentley on Morning Becomes Eclectic today and he always has something interesting up his sleeve.

The mesmerizing sounds of Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan, who is now based in Paris,immediately stood out to me. While singing in Arabic, she seems to perfectly integrate those two locales.

She joined forces with Marc Collin of French cover band Nouvelle Vague to record her debut solo album, “Ya Nass”, which is being released by the beloved Belgium label Crammed Discs.

Before this, she was part of a Beirut-based duo called the Soapkills, which was among the first indie/electronic bands to appear in the Middle East and made her an undergound icon throughout the Arab world.

Chris says he was immediately drawn in by the inventive production.

“You can tell when there is something interesting going on and there is definitely something interesting going on.”

Yasmine has no U.S. tour dates planned yet but will play herself in Jim Jarmusch’s upcoming movie. A song she sings in the film shows up on her debut, which is out next week.

RR