09 October 2010

BEIRUT: With rumors afoot that the UN-backed tribunal probing the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri will soon make indictments, the country has lately, again, been a little tense. Into this darkness Fairouz shone rays of light on Thursday and Friday evening.

The Lebanese diva’s voice filled the Beirut International Exhibition Center with love and hope and she did so with the same energy and poise as 50 years ago.

“There’s hope … yes there’s hope, hope that stems from boredom,” Fairouz sang to the almost 14,000 people who flocked to watch her perform classics from her immense repertoire and a peppering of new songs.

The audience, which included Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians and Saudis, sang along with familiar hits such as “Kifak inta?” and “Ya Ali” composed by Fairouz’s son and collaborator Ziad Rahbani.

The two-day run of performances was dubbed “Yes there’s hope,” which is also the title of Fairuz’s latest album, released on Thursday. The much-awaited album includes two instrumental pieces along with 10 songs and was written and composed by Rahbani.

Fairuz, known to her fans as “Lebanon’s ambassador to the stars,” was accompanied by a large orchestra conducted by Harout Fazlian and an eight-voice choir. Each time the vocalist headed backstage for a short break, the choir would maintain the crowd’s excitement with renditions of songs from Ziad’s latest album “Mniha.”

This week’s concert gained added significance, not just because this was Fairuz’s first show in Beirut since 2006, but also because it came after rumors that she was banned from singing.

In July, hundreds of her fans gathered on the steps of the National Museum to protest an alleged ban, imposed by the heirs of her brother-in-law Mansur Rahbani, that would have prevented the diva from singing. Similar sit-ins were held in Syria, Occupied Palestine and Egypt.

For several years, Fairuz her late-husband Assi Rahbani and his brother Mansur collaborated to create the so-called “golden era” of Lebanese music. In 1979, the trio separated and since then Fairuz has collaborated with Ziad.

Following their father’s death, Mansur’s sons Marwan, Ghadi and Osama, have demanded that Fairuz seek their consent before recording from the Rahbani Brothers songbook. Mansur’s heirs also argue that they are entitled to revenues from any performances of these tunes.

On Thursday and Friday, Fairuz paid a tribute to the Rahbani Brothers by accompanying the chorus in some of their classics – namely “Talo al-Siyadi,” “Emmi Namet aa Bakir” and “Aal Tahouni.” In the new CD, Fairouz and Ziad conveyed a clear message: Assi and Mansour will always be remembered, as conveyed in the song titled “Bektob Asamiyon,” which is a remake of the Rahbani Brother’s famous romantic tune “Bektob Ismak.”

The Arab world’s most prominent living singer’s attempt to settle past differences did not constitute an obstacle to her new CD’s explorations of unique themes and musical experiments.

Melancholy is a general characteristic of the new work, but the hope and defiance of the youth are ever-present too.

The songs on the new album creatively tackle realistic and current themes. Each song is craftily composed to depict a portion of life. Here, Fairuz is not the same woman as the one her fans met 40 years ago, when, in those songs, life tumbles down whenever her “lover” leaves.

With Ziad, the vocalist has been metamorphosed: She addresses her songs to the daring young women of today, urging them to reject all forms of submission and weakness.

In the song “Yes there is hope,” Fairouz “waltzes” with her “lover,” mourning their lost passion while mocking her man and vowing not to be fooled by him again.

In “Ma Shawaret Hali” (“I did not consult with myself”), Fairouz slams Arab assumptions that women should marry young.

“Who said getting married at a young age is a good deed?” she sings. She also calls on women to thoroughly examine any marriage decisions.

The Fairuz-Ziad Rahbani duo never fails to impress. Her decision to collaborate with her son was frowned upon by many, but the endeavor has proven successful, and demonstrates the diva’s ability to address all the generations and continue to excel.

Copyright The Daily Star 2010.