Nouhad Wadi Haddad (Arabic: نهاد حداد) (born November 21, 1935), famously known as Fairuz (Arabic: فيروز, also spelled Fairouz or Fayrouz, meaning Turquoise) is a Lebanese singer who is widely considered to be the most famous living singer in the Arab world and one of the best known of all time.[2][3] Her songs are constantly heard throughout the region, and still spark Lebanese national pride.[4][5] She was first noticed at the International Festival of Baalbek, where she performed many of her songs. She became famous after appearing on the Lebanese Nights part of the festival for many successive years. Fairuz is commonly known as Ambassador to the Stars and Neighbor to the Moon. See Timeline of Fairuz. Nouhad Haddad was born on 21 November 1935 in Jabal al Arz, Lebanon into a Syriac Maronite Christian family.[6][7][8] The family later moved into a home in cobblestone alley called Zuqaq el Blatt in Beirut. Living in a single room of a typical Lebanese stone house facing Beiruts Patriarchate school, they shared a kitchen with the neighbours. Her father Wadīʿ was from Mardin and of the Syriac Orthodox faith,[9][10] and worked as a typesetter in a print shop.[11] Lisa, her mother, stayed home and took care of her four children, Nouhad, Youssef, Hoda and Amal. Nouhad was a shy child and did not have many friends at school. However, she was very attached to her grandmother who lived in Debbieh (Shuf area), where Nouhad used to spend her summer holidays. Nouhad seemed to enjoy the rural village life. During the day, Nouhad would help her grandmother with house chores and fetch fresh water from a nearby water spring. She would sing all the way to the spring and back. In the evening, Nouhad would sit by the candlelight with her grandmother, who would tell her stories. Fairuz has performed once or more in each of many countries around the globe including Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, France, The United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands,[14] Greece, Canada, The United States of America, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and her native Lebanon. Fairuz has performed in many venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1962, the New York Carnegie Hall in 1971, the London Palladium in 1978, LOlympia de Paris in 1979, Londons Royal Festival Hall in 1986, the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles (1971, 1981, and 2003), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. (1981 and 1987) among many others (for the complete concert chronology, see Fairuz Concerts). Fairuz has yielded record-breaking performances in almost every concert she has held around the world. Fairuz, Assi, and Mansour have become the most famous and dominant music production phenomenon in the Arab world, and their music has spread beyond the Arab world to Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Of Fairuzs numerous concerts, few are officially released. They are the Damascus 1960, Olympia 1979 concert (audio and video released in the 80s), USA tour 1981, Jarash 1983, Royal Festival Hall London 1986, USA tour 1987, Baalbek 1998 (Video), Las Vegas 1999 concert (on DVD with make over and rehearsals), Beiteddine 2000 and Dubai 2001 (on DVD, it includes parts from concerts in 1997 and 2002 as well as rehearsals from 2001 and 2002 concerts, released May 2008). Pirated versions of other concerts exist: Kuwait 1966, Syria and Egypt 1976, Olympia 1979, Australia 1984, Syria 1985, Bahrain 1987, France 1988, Kuwait1989, Cairo 1989, London 1994, Beirut 1994, and parts of the four Beiteddine concerts (2000--2003), Parts of Dubai concerts (1990--2006), Paris 2002, Amman 2004, Canada 2005, parts of the play Sah Ennawm which was performed in Beirut (2006), Athens 2007 and Bahrain 2008. On June 26, 2011 Fairuz performed in the Royal Carre Theater in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Fairuz is known as the Jewel of Lebanon.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 00:22:13 +0000
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