Meet Yal Solan, The Lyrical Priestess

She is the voice of a generation lost in noise... a poetess in a world that is slowly being dehumanized ... a committed activist calling to action in contrast of hitting frantically on purchase buttons.

With her grounding calmness she commands to be heard yet her music touches, reaches, transcends boundaries and merging universes.Unveiling the artist that is Yal Solan...

By Ghena Maalouf

As a multidisciplinary artist, how would you describe your body of art as a whole?

- Y.S: My main art is my music, but my body of work spans different mediums. I’m initially an animator and graphic designer who metamorphosed into a singer-songwriter, model, actress, poet and voice over artist.
The former has allowed me to raise awareness on causes dear to my heart, such as environmental issues, women’s rights, LGBT rights, through visual storytelling and activism. The latter is a continuation of that passion in different artistic forms. My music, my modeling, and overall presence are a celebration of the much-needed feminine energy in our modern day, one that carries compassion, embodiment, sensuality and empowerment. They all flow together. They all are part of a journey bridging awareness, from my inner world to the outer world.
All of these disciplines are different manifestations of me. I am not one thing, and nothing is ever separate. I act when I perform. I perform when I model. I write when I sing.

Which art medium allows you to best express yourself without inhibitions in regard to your audience? Does it happen to be your favorite way of self-expression?

- Y.S: In regard to the audience, definitely singing. It is my way to encrypt the contents of my soul, musically. However, to myself, it would be writing.My notebooks are a very intimate, uninhibited space for me.
My music is born from the safety of letting the stream of my consciousness flow fully from mind to pen, and then gets transformed into songs I can share with the world.

'I am not one thing, and nothing is ever separate. I act when I perform. I perform when I model. I write when I sing.'

Watching your artistic trajectory unfold, one may notice that you evolved (but not ceased to be) from being a lyrical poetess engrained in spirituality and feminine mystic; thus directing your energy flow from within to the universe; to raising awareness of what is happening in the world and trying to incite empathy around you (in your last two singles), yet liberation remains at the core of your message. What has brought this shift on?

- Y.S: It feels like it is the path of artistic maturity, in the sense that the higher values that I sing about, are taking root. These shapes are being embodied, becoming tangible enough to express what needs to be expressed, in the current moment.

For instance, Manam, the single I released before Ya Enay Kafak Alam, was alight bulb moment. I was approached to song write about my stance as an artiston the turbulent situation in Lebanon. I was almost going to turn it down, thinking that my musical work is only up in the clouds. But, when I started writing it, I realized just how political it is. How our internal worlds are shaped by the outside and vice versa. These ideals can’t live in a vacuum.

Over time, my awareness has expanded to my surroundings and then globally, growing in unprecedented ways. My work is more grounded and directional, but the ethereal force is all the same. And, I do see myself continually alternating between the earthly and the ethereal.

How would you describe your artistic style in rapport to your fashion style?Do you feel they are intertwined & coherent, or intentionally clashing & parallel?

Y.S: Musically, my style is something I call “Soul Fusion”, a mix of my oriental and occidental influences combined with my more personal tendencies towards the mystical. Soulfulness is the main ingredient in my work, as it is my tool to express holistic awareness, feminine energy, sensuality, and awakening.
When it comes to fashion, I’m pretty much a chameleon. I can go anywhere from bohemian and earthy, to shiny and flamboyant, to androgynous or gender-fluid.And I can shamelessly say, yes, this does clash with my music. Glam and glamorous, is definitely not something one would immediately associate with a soulful singer-songwriter. But I also find it kind of ridiculous how some people dress “spiritual” to fit the mold of what a “spiritual” artist should look like. To me, there is a lack of authenticity in dressing - or being – of what people expect you to be, and I would rather surprise than fulfill any expectation. I do not believe an artist should ever be put into a box. I always seek to reinvent myself, out of the pure pleasure of self-discovery.

After working with prominent & established talents like Mike Massy, Zeid Hamdan & Bachar Mar Khalifeh, how would you describe the dynamic you established with them?

- Y.S: First and foremost, Mike Massy! From initially being my vocal coach, to arranging and producing my first two singles, and now becoming a mentor to me, he really was the person who set me out on this path. Working on my third single, La7ali, with Bachar Mar-Khalife, was also a tremendous pleasure. He was able to really translate the feeling of La7ali into the sound I imagined, all in one studio day!
As for Zeid, it was such a free-flow. We got to perform together during JAM3A,the fundraiser he initiated with KED. We didn’t prepare much, yet the connectionon stage was so fluid that we totally improvised a mixture of my poetry and hissounds.
The biggest lesson to take from these experiences is to put your art out there. If Ihad not dared to sing, to write, to be vulnerable and to take risks, how wouldthese established artists have found me?
It has been humbling to collaborate with them. I think it is such a beautiful cycle of support, how experienced artists can uplift younger ones, to keep the power of music alive. For these inspiring artists to believe in me enough to contribute to my journey, while I am still in the first few years of it, is quite a big deal for me, and I am honored.

How did you discover your penchant for art? And how did you hone your talents?

- Y.S: It all came out from a very unpredictable unfolding. I was a math nerd who knew she wanted to create for the rest of her life. My first contact with art was studying graphic design and animation at university, yet the place where I also discovered singing was the university’s chamber choir.

It took several years before I realized the poetry that I had been writing purely for myself, can actually be song-writing. And then some more years to muster up thecourage to perform live.
My talents were fed and sculpted by the desire to share a gift, I think.

Singing and using my voice was a revelation, until the next natural step was sharing my own writing through them, and expressing my soul through my voice.Beyond that, what is the point of writing if it meant keeping those songs to myself? It felt like something was missing, not putting them out there, and performing out of the joy of sharing them with people and connecting on a deeper level.

“Al Souq Al Oumoumi”, a cabaret show directed by Hisham Jaber, choreographed by Khouloud Yassine and produced by Metro Al Medina, gained a lot of traction and success, and in my opinion it is likely set to become one of the staples of our Lebanese pop culture, how do you live this experience?

- Y.S: With this show celebrating its two-year anniversary now, I can definitely agree with you! Ever since I read the script, I knew it would be life-changing. It was actually my first experience in theatre, so I was given a lot of trust. It has been such a fun experience! Opening up the side of me that is overtly feminine, and provocative, at least relative to the more conservative perspective of Lebanese society. Being part of a burlesque show like this brought out another side of me on stage, and allowed me to bring three different facets within me together: the singer, the actress and the dancer. It is also a very interesting contrast to the more soulful and calmer presence I have in my own concerts.
“Al Souq Al Oumoumi” displays the history of the red light district in my country,and it’s very important that such overlooked information is brought to thelimelight, and disseminated to the public in such a lively and engaging way. I think Metro Al Madina is doing our culture a great favor, by revealing it unto itselfand celebrating, the past and the present, the obvious and the obscured.

Circling back to your latest release “Ya Enay Kafak Alam”, how did it come to be??

- Y.S: It is actually really wild how it started - I did not choose it – it is one of those things that just happened. A producer all the way from Tunisia, Bilel Abdou, reached out to me on Instagram out of the blue. The track he had sent me was initially empty; asking me to song write to it, along with sampled voices singing“Ya Eneya”. Something about those words and how they were sung was magical to me, and I started asking about the song and researching it further. When I heard the full song, this Sudanese folk song through a cover by Zahraman, and listened to its words, I knew I wanted to sing it.

And the process was not just artistic; it felt like a message that needed to be voiced out. In light of the violence and wars across countries in the SWANA region like Lebanon, Sudan, and Palestine, “Ya Enay Kafak Alam”, which translates to “Oh My Eyes, Enough Pain”, resonated in a different way today. I wanted to respect and honor its Sudanese origins, while letting it speak truthfully of our harsh, common present realities.

“Ya Enay Kafak Alam” speaks to the universality of pain that is felt across our borders, but is also an act of resistance. When the world has turned a blind eyeto such immense suffering, this song calls for us to look it in the face, and acknowledge that this is a collective plea. This song became my vessel toaddress the cycles of violence that haunt our lands, and to express a deep desire for liberation from them.

What can we wish for Yal Solan?

- Y.S: To finally get that EP out! On a more serious note though, you can definitely wish for Yal to keep writing, expressing, and releasing music, all while growing mindfully. It is quite the tough road. I am on a path with a lot of challenges, distractions and set backs, so you can also wish me the strength and perseverance to carry on, so that I can put out some beautiful thoughts into the world.

“Ya Enay Kafak Alam” streaming on all platforms and music video out onyoutube.com here.
Find Yal Solan’s whole discography and work on yalsolan.com

Follow Yal Solan on Instagram, here

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