When you hear Yasmine Hamdan's melancholy voice - electronically manipulated so that it seems to be coming from a vast distance - you realize for the first time how beautiful sorrow can sound. Not for nothing has Soap Kills, founded in 1997 in Beirut, become a star of the music scene that moves back and forth between Beirut and Paris: Beirut for the flair, Paris for the opportunities for truly professional work. The mélange of electric, techno and ethno ingredients, inspired by the classic Arab chanson, inspired the French media to define the band as "Trip Hop à l'Oriental" - an attribute as eclectic as their music. "People who make alternative music," said Yasmine Hamdan," move between the two camps. Classical Arab music is dignified, highly aesthetic and sophisticated. On the other side is the vulgar Arab disco, totally commercialized, but in a certain sense a response to this rigorous virtuosity. I love the perfection and cultivation of classic Arab music, but at the same time I also like music that doesn't care whether it sounds right or wrong."