In the last appearance of the Lebanese artist Fayrouz In early September 2020, the Arab singing legend wore a black embroidered abaya, covered part of her head with a black handkerchief, and placed a transparent mask on her face.
Those were the peak days of the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the world, and her guest was exceptional. He is the French president Emmanuel Macron He chose to begin his visit to Lebanon at that time from Fairouz’s house in the Rabieh district of Beirut, not from any official government headquarters or from meeting with the country’s senior officials.
The meeting lasted about an hour and a quarter, but it took a long time to resonate, not only in Lebanon but in the entire region.
It was news to many that Fairouz had received the French President, not that he had visited her, which reflects the unique position that the Lebanese artist occupies in the hearts of her followers, who are from different generations, countries and ethnicities.
She is the neighbor of the moon. Lebanon’s ambassador to the stars. A voice that crosses sects and countries. Lebanon’s conscience, its icon. The song that always forgets to grow up, as described by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.
If “some sounds are a ship, some are a beach, and some are a lighthouse, then Fayrouz’s voice is the ship, the beach, and the lighthouse,” as the Lebanese poet wrote. Forget Hajjadding that “even music is jealous of him.”
If this is the case with poets, many of whom wrote about her, then how did French President Emmanuel Macron describe her?
How did Macron describe it?
At the conclusion of his visit to Lebanon, Macron was asked about his meeting with Fairouz, and he said: “I can say what I felt, and what I said to her personally. I said that I feel in awe to be in front of a “diva” like Fairouz, and to see her beauty, and this magic that she has.”
He added: “I think that she carries, perhaps realistically or unrealistically, a part of Lebanon – the dream, and her voice is very important for all the generations that accompanied her (…) I will definitely not talk about her because I think that this is part of the dream and the secret that she surrounds herself with. This secret He is part of Fayrouz.
From a humble family and with great talent
Nihad Wadih Haddad (Fayrouz) was born on November 21, 1935, in the Chouf district of Mount Lebanon, to a Syriac Orthodox family of modest means, and she was the family’s first child.
Discovered in 1947 Muhammad FleifelHe and his brother Ahmed composed a number of Arab national anthems, and thanks to him, she joined the Lebanese National Radio Band, and joined the music institute that was headed at the time by Wadih Sabra, the composer of the Lebanese national anthem, who refused to charge any tuition fees from her because he admired her voice.
After completing her studies at the institute, she met the composer Halim Al-Rumi Who was head of the music department at the Lebanese Radio. He gave her the name Fayrouz, which is the precious stone, and provided her with melodies for her first songs, such as “Ya Dove, Ya Marwah” and “I Love You No Matter What I See of You” in 1952.
Also on the radio, in the early 1950s, Fairouz met who would later become her husband (they married in 1955 and separated in 1979), a dynamo of what can be described as the most creative and artistically fertile cell not only in Lebanon but in the Arab world.
That was it Assi RahbaniThe musician and writer who is described as a genius, and one of the great innovators of Arabic music.
From that time until the latter’s death in 1986, her artistic rise was astonishing, before her son Ziad became the composer of her musical works.
With Assi…a rare artistic fertility
Historians of the artist Fairouz estimate the number of her artistic works during about three decades of cooperation with the Rahbani brothers (Assi and Mansour) at about 800 songs and a few films and plays.
Fayrouz’s first major and direct appearance was with the Rahbani brothers at the Baalbek Festival in 1957, through the song “Harvest Days”, which was performed in front of a large audience in the ancient Temple of Jupiter, before her subsequent participation in festivals from Baalbek to Damascus to a number of Arab capitals.
1,500 songs from the 1940s
Fairuz sang about 1,500 songs, of which about 800 are known, and there are many unrecorded works of hers, most of which date back to the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s.
Some sources estimate that more than 150 million copies of her albums have been sold worldwide.
During her artistic career, which extends over more than seven decades, Fayrouz dealt with a large number of composers, most notably the Rahbani brothers, who composed most of her works, in addition to Philemon Wehbe, Ziad Rahbani, Zaki Nassif, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, and others.
Umm Kulthum-Fayrouz duet
Fayrouz and Umm Kulthum formed the duo of Arabic singing and its peak in the twentieth century. While many saw the latter as an unrivaled legend, others held that the former is no less important at all, and that they constitute two sides of the same coin, which is singing that turned into a high art, as they took it from the level of Rapture towards the immortal art in terms of its impact on the recipients, which is not a momentary impact on their understanding, but rather permanent, and related to rebuilding the Arab taste in receiving singing and the arts.
Umm Kulthum’s songs were long, with classical music, performed alone on stage, unlike the Lebanese artist, who was slim in stature, who presented shorter songs, with a faster and more modern tempo, within a context and various artistic forms, and sometimes with other artists, and on a stage prepared for musical theater and not Solo performance only.
This was the dualism of soul versus body. The tendency toward the abstract and the heavenly versus the sensual, the brutal, and the flowing emotion, which made Fayrouz’s fans liken her voice to angelic, in contrast to Umm Kulthum’s voice, which was likened to the legendary and which robs the recipient of his heart.
Some students of Fairouz’s artistic career bring back the magic of her performance and even the world that she presented to the concept of the village, and the desire of the human being to return to the nest, which explains the lyrics of her songs that sing of the village (the village) and the authentic but simple human relationships based on high ideals and innocence in expressing feelings, which is Thus, in their opinion, it belongs to the legacy of the Lebanese-American writer Gibran Khalil Gibran, more than it belongs to the very complex contemporary narratives.
A great theatrical legacy
Fayrouz did not limit her art to the single song only, but also included theatre, in which she excelled with the Rahbani brothers. It also included cinema under the direction of two major Egyptian directors, Youssef Chahine and Henry Barakat.
In theater, Fayrouz presented a large number of plays (about 16 well-known and recorded plays), the most important of which are:
– Moon Bridge
It was presented in 1962 at the Damascus International Fair Theater and the Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek, and co-starred in it, in addition to Fairouz, Nasri Shams al-Din, Elie Choueiri, and Mansour Rahbani.
The play’s songs include: “Give me peace” and “Qal Antarini”.
– The night and the lantern
It was shown for the first time in 1963. Co-starring were Nasri Shams El Din, Hoda, Joseph Azar, William Haswani, and Marwan Mahfouz.
The play’s songs include: “Light, oh lantern”, “Oatm, oh night”, “Fayeq Ali”, “O people of the village”.
– Ring seller
It was presented in 1964. Joseph Nassif, Nasri Shams El-Din, and Elie Choueiri participated in it. Among its songs: “Come and Don’t Come” and “My Mother Nami Abkir.”
– Hala and the King
It was shown in 1967. Nasri Shams El-Din, Elie Choueiri and others participated in it. Among its songs were “My Beloved Bedouin the Moon,” “My Name is Hala,” and “Ala al-Karam Come Down.”
– The station
It was shown in 1973. Co-starring was Nasri Shams El Din, Elie Choueiri, Hoda, Antoine Kerbaj, and Philemon Wehbe.
Among her songs are “Sad Nights of the North,” “Yadra Dori Fina,” “The People Asked Me,” “The Time Was,” and “Winter Is Back.”
– Miss Al-Reem
It was shown in 1975. It included Nasri Shams al-Din, William Haswani, Joseph Nassif, Hoda, Raja Badr, Joseph Saqr, and Laila Karam.
Among her songs are “My Lady, My Lady,” “I Asked You, My Love,” “The Last Days of Summer,” and “Love Each Other.”
-Petra
It was shown in 1977. It featured Nasri Shams al-Din, Hoda, Antoine Kerbaj, Andre Gideon, Ghassan Saliba, and Joseph Nassif, and among its songs were “Tomorrow when the horsemen return,” “The night has not slept,” and “Take me, my love.”
Fayrouz also presented a number of films, which are:
1- Selling rings. Produced in 1964. Directed by Youssef Chahine
2- Barlak’s travel. Produced in 1967. Directed by Henry Barakat
3- The guard’s daughter. Production 1968. Directed by Henry Barakat
Decorations and medals
Fairouz received a large number of awards and medals in appreciation for her art and her busy career, most notably:
• Medal of Honor from Lebanese President Camille Chamoun in 1957
• The Medal of Merit and the Cedar from President Fouad Chehab in 1962-1963
• The Jordanian Renaissance Medal, First Class, 1963, and the Gold Medal of Honor, 1975.
• The Order of Merit from Syrian President Nour al-Din al-Atassi 1967
• The Order of the Commander of Arts and Letters from French President François Mitterrand in 1988
• Knight of the Legion of Honor from French President Jacques Chirac 1998
• The Legion of Honor from French President Emmanuel Macron in 2020
• The key to the city of Jerusalem in 1968
• Jerusalem Award in 1997
• The key to the American city of Las Vegas in 1999
• Honorary doctorate from the American University of Beirut in 2005
