Her original name is Nouhad Haddad.  She was born on November 21st, 1935 in a small house in 'zoukak el blatt' in Beirut.  Her mother was a housewife and her father worked in a printing press.  She was the oldest of her siblings, Yousef, Houda and Amal.  Nouhad came from a relatively low-income family and lived in a one room-house with a kitchen shared by neighbors.  She was a very shy child and did not have many friends at school.  Instead, she was attached to her grandmother who lived in 'debbieh' village.
         

Since she was ten, Nouhad became well known in school for her beautiful voice, so she would sing at festivals and eids.  One time, Mohammed Flaifel and his brother, well known Lebanese musicians, happened to be attending one of the festivals at her school.  After hearing her sing, they negotiated with her father to have her come and study music. Therefore, in December of 1946, Nouhad became a student in Flaifel's class in the Conservatoire (The National Music Institute) where she learned for four years theories of oriental and western music and how to sing and chant.  Her parents encouraged her. Even though they couldn't afford much, one day her father surprised her with a radio [not sure if this is the right word in English??? not a boom-box since it had no tapes].
       

After graduation, she started her first job as a choir singer in the Lebanese Broadcasting Radio Station (al-iza'a al Loubnaniah).  There she met Assi Rahbani and they worked together.  In 1954, at nineteen years of age, Nouhad married Assi.  Soon thereafter, the Rahbani brothers, Assi, Mansour, and Ellias formulated their company and began composing music for Fairouz (as Nouhad now came to be known).  Her first official appearance was in 1957 in Damascus and as they say the rest became history in terms of her music career.  The Rahbanis were mostly famous for their musical dialogues which they used in the many musical plays they wrote and directed.  some focused on historical events and others on love and simplicity in the Lebanese countryside: 'Petra', 'Loulou', 'Al-mahata' (The Station), 'Mayess el-Reem', 'Hala wa al-Malek' (Hala and the King), 'Al-shakhiss' (The Person), 'Jebal al Siwan' (Siwan Mountains), and many more.  They also had their share of movie production which included 'Safar Barlek' and Biya'h al-Khawatem' (The Ring Peddler).  Fairouz performed in most countries around the world and was known for her songs about Arab nationalism and love and peace.
       

On the personal side, Fairouz had many struggles throughout her life.  She gave birth to Ziad, then Hilli, Lial and finally Rima.  Hilli became sick soon after his birth and became paralyzed for the rest of his life.  She still take care of him to this day.  During that same time, her mother got sick and died.  All these events left a great impact on her. Many believe that the song 'bikoukhna ya bni' (lyrics by Michel Trad) talks about her son.

Some of the other obstacles that Nouhad had to face were her husband and his company.  Assi and his brother interfered with every thing.  They monitored Fairouz' every single move on and off stage.  They first did not want her to act on television because they felt that people would not like her face up close.  They also did not agree for her to work with other important musicians such as Mohamad Abd el Wahab.  While traveling for a performance, she was not allowed to go out with the team, but had to stay in the hotel room to prevent illness.  She was not allowed to talk with reporters unless questions were scrutinized and answers were prepared earlier.  She knew nothing of the financial situation and never had money of her own.  It is also said that Assi gambled and entertained other women.

When she decided that she wants to have plastic surgery for her nose, Assi thought the idea was unacceptable.  As she insisted and finally had the operation, she felt stronger and that she could change things about her life.  Ounsi el Hajj, a famous Lebanese poet and a good friend, wrote about her in the newspaper encouraging her to take control of her life and explaining the importance of financial independence for a women's liberty. At this time, Ziad (15 years old) and Layal both left the home at a very early age because they were unhappy with the situation.  She finally got the courage to leave Assi and they soon got divorced. 

Now she realized that there are many musicians whom she could work with including her son Ziad.  She produced three cds with Ziad ('keifak inta' 1991, 'mish kayen hayek tkoun' 1999, and 'Ila Assi' 1995) which were very controversial.  People were not in general very willing to accept another image of Fairouz that Ziad and Fairouz wanted to create. They were too accustomed to the angelic, goddess-like, aloof image that Assi and his brothers created.  Fairouz once said in an interview that she had oppressed her smile in the past because she was put in the cage of formalities, but that she will always smile (we actually hear her smile in 'keifak inta' CD).  She also produced another CD with Zaki Nassif (Fairouz sings Zaki Nassif, 1994) and another of works with Filmoun Wehbi ('ya rayeh', 1994).  Fairouz said about Filmoun Wehbi "those you left behind have missed you, and all those who are still coming are going to love you".  During the war, Fairouz never left Lebanon and decided to stop singing because it pained her to see the Lebanese killing each other.  She has held a number of concert recitals in the past couple of years including one in Baalbek (1998) and another in Las Vegas (1999).  Some of her most excellent CDs include 'Fairouz Qased', 'al Quds (Jerusalem) fil el bal', 'Fairouz ma'akoum', 'Raj'oun', 'Qassidat Houb', 'Bi Layl wa Chiti', 'Christmas Carols',  and 'Andalusiyat'.

This is what others have said about Fairouz:

"To the Arab world Fairouz came suddenly, as a miracle.  At a time when Arabic singing was weighed down with convention and predictability, and spirits were nationally at their lowest, her voice rang, as though from the beyond, the notes of salvation and joy.  Arabic music has never been the same since.  Nostalgic but vibrant, sad but defiant, folkloric and yet so new, hers has been for nearly 30 years perhaps the only voice that seems so capable of jubilation in an almost cosmic sense.  By turns mystic and amorous, elegiac and fiery, her singing has expressed the whole emotional scale of Arab life with haunting intensity.  Often singers give listeners pleasure, as they expect.  She often gives them, beyond their expectation, ecstasy" Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (Syrian Author).

"Fairouz' song is one of the names of our emotional identity.  It is one of our letters to salvation and to the angels.  What would the poetry of our lives be had Fairouz not been the song of our live, capable of disrupting our lives with more Julnar flowers? It is the song that always forgets to get old, it makes the desert smaller and the moon larger" Mahmoud Darwish (Palestinian Poet) [My translation]. 

"After Years of thirst, a voice like fresh water has arrived.  A cloud, a love-letter from another planet: Fairouz has overwhelmed us with ecstasy. Names and figures of speech remain too small to define her.  She alone is our agency of goodwill, to which those of us looking for love and poetry belong.  When Fairouz sings, mountains and rivers follow her voice, the mosque and the church, the oil-jars and loaves of bread; through her, every one of us is made to blossom, and once we were no more than sand; men drop their weapons and apologize.  Upon hearing her voice, it is our childhood which being molded anew" Nizar Qabbani (Syrian Poet).

"The glory does not only lie in the fact that I live in the age of Fairouz, but also that I belong to her people.  I have no country but her voice, no family but her people and no sun but he moon of her chanting in my heart" Ounsi el- Hajj (Lebanese Poet) [my translation].


Compiled by: Zeina Zaatari

Previously featured biographies: The late lawyer Laure Moghaizel Writer Emily Nasrallah MP Nayla Moawad Professor Evelyn Shakir Artist Etel Adnan Writer May Ziadeh Writer Hanan Al-Shaykh Singer Fayrouz Activist Suha Bechara Philanthropist Munira Solh Former Secretary of Health Donna Shalala Educator Ilham Bisat Kalab Ambassador Selwa Roosevelt Members' Writings

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