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Hearing Cosmopolitan Nationalism in the Work of Fairuz and the Rahbani Brothers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2022

NOUR EL RAYES
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Abstract

Today, the trajectory of Lebanese diva Fairuz’s career has become synonymous with the development of a Lebanese national subjectivity. Her performance of musical works by the Rahbani Brothers at Lebanon’s Baalbak International Festival from the 1950s–70s helped to form a Lebanese national musical style. Through close listening and analysis, this article explores the entanglement of Fairuz’s early music with both the Baalbak Festival and early Lebanese nationalist efforts, arguing that this music’s sound and style consciously laboured to articulate an emergent sense of national identity.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , July 2022 , pp. 49 - 72
Copyright
© International Council for Traditional Music 2022

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Multimedia Sources

Audio 1: “Lebnan el Akhdar (Lebanon the Verdant)” in ’Awdat al ‘Askar (Return of the Soldiers) (https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=tuDAsggk4tk&feature=share)Google Scholar
Audio 2: A line in “Lebnan el Akhdar (Lebanon the Verdant)” (https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxdAxrcpQP74yw2sFJqK62jtE4WKwFeBcp)Google Scholar
Audio 3: Example of iqa’ wahda wa nuss (https://www.maqamworld.com/en/iqaa/wahda_w_nuss.php)Google Scholar
Audio 4: Example of iqa’s syncopation (https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxJ6tgsoaFXNFEYxcKJNbpbSVR0Te-GpQI)Google Scholar
Audio 5: Example of jins Kurd (https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxxbY3RSHfaDY1E7YxKRxee1jWsQhp4HPS)Google Scholar
Audio 6: Example of the open fourths between trumpets (https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxSHnpWnNBtXE8A8EBhQKJ25t9_gvfYjWQ)Google Scholar
Audio 7: Example of vocal presentation (https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxvQx-NJZdRmQUXFtndwDElOlY5Zp9INn7)Google Scholar