Ziad Rahbani, pioneering Lebanese musician and composer, dies at 69
The trailblazing artist, son of legendary Fairuz and composer Assi Rahbani, was additionally a playwright, pianist and political provocateur.
Lebanese musician and composer Ziad Rahbani, son of the enduring singer Fairuz and a pioneer of fusion jazz, has died on the age of 69 of a coronary heart assault.
“On Saturday at 9:00am, the guts of the nice artist and creator Ziad Rahbani stopped beating,” mentioned a press release from the hospital the place he was being handled within the capital, Beirut, on Saturday.
Rahbani influenced generations of Lebanese folks together with his songs and particularly his performs, whose traces are recognized by coronary heart by each younger and outdated.
He was the son of Fairuz, the final residing legend of Arabic track – and probably the most well-known Arab ladies worldwide – and composer Assi Rahbani, who, alongside together with his brother Mansour, modernised Arabic track by mixing classical Western, Russian, and Latin American items with Center Japanese rhythms.
“I love the music of composers like Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie,” Rahbani as soon as mentioned. “However my music is just not Western, it’s Lebanese, with a distinct means of expression.”
Fairouz additionally grew to become an icon for younger folks when Rahbani composed songs for her influenced by jazz rhythms – he referred to as it “oriental jazz”.
Lebanon’s leaders paid a heartfelt tribute to the Lebanese composer, who was additionally a playwright, pianist and political provocateur.
President Joseph Aoun referred to as Rahbani “a residing conscience, a voice that rebelled towards injustice, and a honest mirror of the oppressed and marginalised”.
“Lebanon has misplaced an distinctive and inventive artist, a free voice that remained devoted to the values of justice and dignity” and who mentioned “what many didn’t dare to say”, mentioned Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
Rahbani’s works mirrored the hybrid heritage of Lebanon, which, till the civil conflict erupted in 1975, was a cultural melting pot. It additionally mirrored the following sectarian strife, which concerned bloody road battles between rival militias and three years of violent Israeli occupation after the 1982 invasion.
Whereas Fairuz transcended the highly effective sectarian divides within the nation, her son selected to be resolutely left-wing and secular, denouncing Lebanon’s longstanding divisions. His breakout play, Nazl el-Sourour (Happiness Resort), premiered in 1974 when he was solely 17, portrayed a society disfigured by class inequality and repression.
The play follows a personnel who take over a restaurant to demand their rights, solely to be dismissed by the political elite.
In one other play, Bennesbeh Labokra Chou? (What About Tomorrow?), he performs a jaded bar pianist in post-civil conflict Beirut. The work options a few of Rahbani’s most poignant music and biting commentary, together with the well-known line, “They are saying tomorrow shall be higher, however what about in the present day?”
Rahbani was additionally a composer of staggering vary. He infused conventional Arabic melodies with jazz, funk and classical influences, making a hybrid sound that grew to become immediately recognisable. His dwell performances have been legendary, when he usually performed piano in smoky golf equipment in Hamra, one among Beirut’s main industrial districts.
Lately, Rahbani appeared much less within the public eye, however youthful generations rediscovered his performs on-line and sampled his music in protest actions. He continued to compose and write, talking usually of his frustration with Lebanon’s political stagnation and decaying public life.
“I really feel like every little thing is over, I really feel like Lebanon has grow to be empty,” wrote Lebanese actress Carmen Lebbos, his former accomplice, on X.
Rahbani is survived by his mom, now 90, his sister Reema and brother Hali.
