Farzane Zamen – Z Bent

“This is an expression of my experience of years and years of discrimination against women, the humiliation, the abuse, the violence. All these women hidden under the darkness of holy black clothes are human beings but being used as symbols of religious ideology. We want to be free. We keep repeating: Freedom, Freedom, such a luxury word!”

Z Bent, Farzane Zamen’s new EP, incorporates elements of electronic music and Middle Eastern sounds – including Arabic strings, oud and darbuka. Farzane sings in English, while Habiba Makhlouf provides the Arabic and French lyrics. Farzane chose not to pen the songs in her native language of Farsi, explaining: “The concept is that women are suffering from the same problems in many Muslim communities, so I thought it’s better to be multilingual and understandable for more people”. With Z Bent, Farzane hopes to give voice to Middle Eastern women from diverse backgrounds and reveal paradoxes about perception and reality.

Z Bent is created by Farzane in collaboration with Glasgow-based musician Gavin Thompson, sound engineer Sam Smith, and Egyptian performer and singer Habiba Makhlouf.