Just Spirituality by Cannon Mae Elise;

Author:Cannon, Mae Elise; [Cannon, Mae Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780830864591
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2012-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Fairuz

Christian worship has a long tradition of acknowledging God’s attributes as Lord and Creator while also being intricately tied to people’s quest for freedom and justice. This relationship is seen in the music of one of the most famous singers in the Arab world, Fairuz. Fairuz’s songs have penetrated the divides of nationality and religion and become a unifying force for Maronite Christians and Arabs around the world. Maronites are an Eastern sect of the Catholic Church with ties to a fourth-century Syriac monk named Maron, who was venerated as a saint. Fairuz is a devout Maronite Christian. Two of her most famous albums, Christmas and Good Friday, are clearly expressions of her Christian devotion.

Fairuz was born as Nouhad Wadi Haddad to a Syrian Catholic father and a Maronite mother on November 21, 1935, in Lebanon. As her professional music career was launched, she took the name Fairuz, which means “turquoise” in Arabic. Over the decades of her musical career she has been called by many adoring names, such as “Neighbor to the Moon” and “Ambassador to the Stars.”[9] Fairuz began her musical career as a teenager in the late 1940s, when she became a chorus girl on a Lebanese radio station.[10] Prior to that she had sung in the church choir but had not had any professional singing opportunities. Her voice and music were so powerful and distinct that she became increasingly famous and started performing all over Lebanon and the world.

Fairuz’s music began to be lauded around the world and she received numerous prestigious awards for her contributions. In 1957, Lebanon’s President Chamoun presented Fairuz with the Cavalier Medal, the highest honor ever received by a Lebanese artist.[11] Similarly in 1963, King Hussein of Jordan presented her with the Medal of Honor, followed by the Gold Medal of His Majesty in 1975.[12] Today Fairuz is a cultural and political icon. She possesses a key to almost every city where she has performed. In 1968, she visited Jerusalem with her father and received one of her most prized possessions: a key to the city from the Jerusalem Cultural Committee.[13] Although Fairuz never performed in Jerusalem, many of her songs speak of the spiritual significance and the suffering of the people of the city, known in Arabic as “Al Quds.”

Fairuz sings many folk songs that laud her native country of Lebanon. In 1969, however, Fairuz’s songs were banned from radio stations for six months because she refused to sing at a private concert in honor of Algerian President Houari Boumedienne. The incident only served to increase her popularity throughout Lebanon. Fairuz made it clear she was always willing to sing to the public and to various countries and regions, but she would never sing to any individual. As a result of this incident, by the 1970s, Fairuz came to be known as “the Soul of Lebanon” because of her nationalistic commitments.[14]

During the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), Fairuz refused to perform for one political party or another, believing such a performance could further incite sectarian divisions.

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