Born Nuhad Haddad to a Maronite Christian family in Beirut in 1935, “Fairuz” (which means “turquoise” in Arabic) is generally revered as second only to the great Oum Klahtom in the legion of all-time emotionally powerful Arabic vocalists.
Known as “Ambassador to the Stars,” in tune with the song, “Neighbor to the Moon,” (which All Around This World adapted as “Nahna Wil Kamar,” Fairuz first became famous in the ’60 and ’70s as part of a Lebanese Folk revival, performing with well-known singers Sabah and Wadi’ al-Safi. Her career really took off when she connected with Assi and Mansour Rahbani who composed some of her most famous songs. (She married Assi.) Fairuz and the Rahbanis earned respect throughout the Arab world for addressing relevant social issues in their music. During the Lebanese Civil War Fairuz refused to leave the Beirut, even during its darkest days. She also remained neutral in the fight. Lebanese of all ethnic and religious backgrounds praised her greatly for staying with them as they struggled. Watch her captivate an audience.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site and are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our curriculum offerings and how to become one of our teachers. That said, if you were on ExploreEverywhere, you clicked to find more information about a song or lesson, and landed here, you’re in the right place! Some links may be broken and a detail or two may be out of date…but close the popup window and enjoy!
