the Arab singer who gave Palestine a voice

Fairuz – born Nouhad Wadie Haddad – began her career in the second half of the 1950s. A regular singer at the Baalbeck International Festival in the Bekaa Valley, the singer wasted no time in introducing audiences to the incredible quality of her voice and music. During these years, Fairuz performed with Mansour and Assi Rahbani, whom she married in 1955. What made Fairuz so popular, in addition to her ethereal vocal performance, was, among other things, the fact that she was not afraid to express her personal and political views.

The years leading up to the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon in 1975 were marked by incredible division. Cities, streets and families were divided by the war and the political views that separated the two sides. A key aspect of this division was the attitude towards the Palestinian population, many of whom had fled to Lebanon following the outbreak of conflict with Israel in 1948 and the intensification of that conflict in the mid-1960s.

While many artists of the era may have shied away from drawing attention to the Palestinian struggle for fear of alienating certain audiences, Fairuz had always expressed her support for the Palestinian people. Even in the face of widespread support for Christian nationalist militias during the civil war, Fairuz’s support for the oppressed people of Palestine never wavered. Importantly, too, unlike many of her contemporary artists and performers, the singer chose to remain in Lebanon throughout the many years of war.

The importance of Fairuz’s stay in Lebanon during the civil war cannot be overstated. It allowed the singer to increase her popularity with audiences across the country, but it also gave her a certain authority; Fairuz remained fairly quiet on many issues and never took a stronger stance on one side than the other. This allowed the singer to address both sides of the conflict while consistently condemning the war. For many people, the sweet sound of Fairuz’s voice was the only light that guided them through the bloody conflict.

It was her performances and recordings during the civil war that helped make Fairuz a household name in Lebanon on both sides of the border. Even in the years after the war ended in 1990, she remained incredibly important to the cultural fabric of Lebanon. She has also been honored on numerous occasions by the Palestinian people for helping to give hope to a population that has been repeatedly deprived of any political or cultural voice.

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