The Lebanese annual Beit El Din Festival has come to be one of the most popular summer events that take place in the Arab world with some of the most prominent singers holding performances. One of the traditions the festival has acquired is a yearly performance by the Lebanese diva Faiourz, who year after year performed at the festival and usually during the last days.
According to the Saudi based daily, Al Riyadh, this year Fairouz is scheduled to hold three concerts at the festival, two already took place and the third is to take place in the upcoming days. Her concerts was marked with the usual success all of Fairouz's performances witness, but had one default causing a number of photo journalist to go into a rage and announce their banning of the festival.
The singer had requested before the concerts that no photo journalist is to take any picture of her while she is performing and had in fact made her demand to the organizers of the festival. To the organizers dismay, the journalists expressed their disliking of such a proposal and decided that they will not take part in any of the festival's events and have called a strike on the singer.
Noura Junbulat, one of the main organizers of the festival, previously had denied all circulating rumors regarding the elimination of Fairouz from this year's festival events. Noura said that she had purposely keeping all the details regarding Fairouz's participation alongside her son Ziad Rahbani a secret.
Born and educated in Beirut, Fairouz began her musical career as a chorus member at the Lebanese Radio Station. In the late 1950s her talent as a singer became fully acknowledged due to her unprecedented enthusiasm and vocal superiority. Fairouz's early songs featured the singer's distinct vocal timbre and lyrics expressing romantic love and nostalgia for village life.
By the early 1960s Fairouz was already one of the main attractions at the annual Baalbeck Festival and a celebrity not only in Lebanon but also throughout the Arab world. During most of her singing career, Fairouz was part of a three-member team that included the two Rahbani brothers. Generally, Mansour Rahbani wrote her lyrics, and the tunes were composed and arranged by his brother Assi, Fairouz's former husband. Fairouz's songs owe a great deal to the musical and poetic genius of these two Lebanese artists. –Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
