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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Ziad Rahbani obituary
Ziad Rahbani, who has died aged 69 of a heart attack, was a national hero in Lebanon. A composer, pianist, playwright, actor and political commentator, he shook up the Beirut theatre scene with his controversial musical plays and transformed his country's popular music with his bravely original fusion of Middle Eastern and western styles. In the process he also transformed the career of his mother, Nouhad Haddad, better known as Fairuz, the most beloved singer in the Arab world. Fairuz had a vast following across the Middle East and North Africa, sold more than 150m records and performed in musical plays and films. Ziad's father, Assi Rahbani, was a pioneering composer who, working with his brother, Mansour, as 'the Rahbani Brothers' had written many of the songs made famous by Fairuz. She was initially best known for stories of Lebanese pastoral life, love and loss. Ziad proved that his mother could broaden her musical range and tackle wider, more adventurous themes. In 1979, at the age of 22, he produced her album Wahdon, hailed as a turning point in her career. It included Ziad's funky composition Al Bostah (The Bus) in which a woman remembers a bus journey with her lover. It shocked some of his mother's more conservative followers, but became a dancefloor hit. After his father's death in 1986 he became her main songwriter, responsible for other successful albums including Maarifti Feek (1987), which showcased Ziad's jazz and funk influences. A musician with widely eclectic tastes, he was a fan of American jazz stars including Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie, and though he used western influences in many of his songs, his music remained distinctively Lebanese. He once described his style as 'oriental jazz – or something like a hamburger that tastes of falafel'. Kifak Inta (1991) took the eclectic mix even further, blending jazz and funk with Brazilian influences. The title track tells of a woman confessing to her love of a married childhood sweetheart – and it again startled some Fairuz fans. As well as composing and producing albums for his mother, Ziad performed with her. So when she played at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1986 (later released as a live album), Ziad was in the band, accompanying her on the piano. He also enjoyed a wildly adventurous solo career, much of it based around political satire and musical theatre. His first play, Sahriyya (1993), was much in the folklore style of the Rahbani Brothers, but with Nazl el-Sourour (1974) he branched out, telling the story of an unemployed betting addict. Ziad appeared in the play, which was praised for its music, humour and use of Beirut street slang. Much of his work during the long years of the Lebanese civil war (1975-90) reflected Beirut life in this era. Bennesbeh Labokra Chou? (1978) was set in a bar and included the celebrated line: 'They say tomorrow will be better, but what about today?' Film Ameriki Tawil (1980) also reflected the anxiety and confusion of the era with a story set in a psychiatric hospital – with Ziad playing a militiaman. The play ends with him screaming. The war also influenced one of his best-known albums, Ana Moush Kafer (1985). The British musician and global music exponent Lu Edmonds describes the slinky, oud-backed title track as 'a masterpiece – it should be on everyone's playlist, and the lyrics should be translated into 100 languages…' It starts with the line: 'I am not the infidel, but hunger is the infidel.' Edmonds remembers meeting Ziad in 1993 and that he was 'very funny, with a very dry wicked sense of humour'. They started drinking vodka at 10am, and discussed music, technology and their shared love of the Algerian pianist Maurice el Médioni until Ziad had to leave for an afternoon theatre performance. Fairuz refused to perform in Lebanon during the civil war, to avoid the appearance of taking sides, but her son took a very different approach, performing in Beirut throughout the conflict. A self-declared communist, he was an active supporter of the Palestinian struggle for statehood, and had been influenced by witnessing the 1976 massacre of Palestinians by rightwing Christian militias at the Tel el-Zaatar refugee camp. He moved from Christian-dominated east Beirut to live in a Muslim area of the city. Ziad was born and grew up in Antelias, a few miles north of Beirut, and was educated at a Jesuit school, Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour. He was already writing songs by the time he was a teenager, and at 17 made his acting debut, appearing in a play by the Rahbani Brothers in which his mother played the lead. In the same year, he wrote the music for a lyric by his uncle Mansour, when his father was in hospital. Sa'alouni Al Nas was the first of his compositions to be sung by his mother. He was married to Dalal Karam from 1979 to 2009, but they divorced after it was found that their boy, Assi, was not his biological son. He is survived by Fairuz, and by his brother, Hali, and sister, Reema. Ziad Rahbani, musician and playwright, born 1 January 1956; died 26 July 2025
The Guardian
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Raymond Warren obituary
My friend Raymond Warren, who has died aged 96, was a composer of classical music who taught at Queen's University Belfast and then the University of Bristol. Many of Raymond's pieces were concerned with Christian responses to suffering, but he also wrote music for children and young people. A late success was his charming score for Ballet Shoes, written for the London Children's Ballet, which was performed at the Peacock theatre in London in 2001 and revived by that company in 2010 and 2019. Born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, Raymond was the eldest child of Arthur, a maths teacher and keen amateur musician, and Gwendoline (nee Hallett), a shorthand typist. He went to Bancroft's school in Woodford Green, east London, and then studied music at Cambridge. After graduating, he began teaching music at Queen's University Belfast in 1955, where he was given a personal chair in composition in 1966, before becoming professor of music there in 1969. By then receiving national attention for some of his compositions – including The Pity of Love, written for Peter Pears and Julian Bream to perform at the 1966 Aldeburgh festival – he became resident composer to the Ulster Orchestra and a key figure in the Belfast festival at Queen's (now known as the Belfast international arts festival) from its inception in 1962. As the political atmosphere in Northern Ireland became increasingly tense, his music became a witness to events: Songs of Unity (1968), a work for children that celebrated ecumenism, was picketed by Ian Paisley at its premiere, and his powerful Second Symphony (1969) reflected the growing sectarian conflict of the time. Collaborations followed in 1970 with the choreographer Helen Lewis (There Is a Time, for double choir and dancers at the Cork choral festival) and with Seamus Heaney (A Lough Neagh Sequence, seven Heaney poems accompanied by Raymond on piano). Heaney also made a recording of his poetry with Warren's music in 2011, shortly before his death. Raymond left Belfast in 1972 to take up a position as chair in music at the University of Bristol, a post he held until retiring from teaching in 1994, although he remained active as a composer for many more years. His wife, Roberta (nee Smith), a textile artist whom he married in 1953, predeceased him in 2022. He is survived by their four children, Tim, Christopher, Ben and Clare, and eight grandchildren.
LBCI
28-07-2025
- Entertainment
- LBCI
Ziad Rahbani's funeral procession arrives at Bikfaya church for final farewell
The funeral procession carrying the body of Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani arrived Monday at the church in Bikfaya, where a memorial service is set to be held. Crowds gathered along the route to pay their respects to the late composer, playwright, and cultural icon whose influence spanned generations. The arrival at the church marks a solemn moment in the national farewell to Rahbani, whose legacy left an indelible mark on Lebanese arts.
The National
28-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Ziad Rahbani to be laid to rest after Beirut farewell marked by applause and flowers
From Beirut's Hamra district, long considered a backdrop to his work and a hub of Lebanon's cultural life, Ziad Rahbani began his final journey on Monday morning. The body of the Lebanese composer, who died on Saturday at the age of 69, was transferred from Al-Khoury Hospital in Hamra to his final resting place in Mhaydseh, a village near Bikfaya – a historic mountain town north-east of Beirut. Mourners gathered outside the hospital at dawn and applauded as the ambulance carrying his casket departed at 9am Beirut time, with many scattering flower petals in tribute. This brief gathering is expected to be the only public farewell, in accordance with the family's wishes. There was no formal procession through the streets. Instead, those who assembled at the hospital either walked alongside the vehicle or followed it in silence as it headed toward the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin in Bikfaya, where the funeral ceremony will take place. There, Rahbani's mother and collaborator Fairuz will receive the casket in a private setting. The church will begin receiving visitors at 11am, with the funeral mass scheduled for 4pm. Rahbani died following a long illness – his health had deteriorated in recent months and, according to Lebanon's Culture Minister Ghassan Salame, plans for further treatment were eventually halted. 'We dreaded this day, as we knew his health was deteriorating and his desire for treatment was diminishing,' he said. 'Plans to treat him in Lebanon or abroad had become obsolete, as Ziad no longer had the capacity to imagine the necessary treatment and surgeries. May God have mercy on artist Rahbani. We will mourn him by singing his immortal songs.' Rahbani, widely regarded as one of the most original and creative voices to emerge from Lebanon in the past five decades, has been mourned across the Arab world. His death sparked an outpouring of grief from political figures and fellow artists alike. 'Ziad Rahbani's music is a voice carved from Lebanon's soul,' Lebanese composer and musicologist Toufic Maatouk told The National. 'He called it 'oriental jazz', but it was more a fusion of Arabic melodies, funk and jazz that sounded unmistakably Lebanese. Each note carried Beirut's chaos, warmth and wit. Ziad's artistry wasn't imitation, it was invention, born from home.' Singer Elissa was among the many artists who paid tribute online. 'Ziad Rahbani was no ordinary artist and certainly no ordinary person,' she wrote on X. 'His musical and artistic genius is one of a kind, never to be repeated. With his loss, Lebanon has lost a part of itself, and a large piece of its collective memory. Fairuz, our ambassador to the whole world, is first and foremost Ziad's mother today. May God grant her strength and patience.' Najwa Karam praised his influence across generations: 'A great genius has departed from Lebanon ahead of his time and like no one else. He planted a laugh full of depth. His theatre and his music were the essence of a battle between the golden past and a visionary future,' she said on X. "A son of freedom who feared nothing. May God have mercy on you and may your soul rest in heaven.' Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun also issued a statement of condolence. 'Ziad Rahbani was not just an artist; he was an integrated intellectual and cultural figure,' he said. 'Moreover, he was a living conscience, a rebellious voice against injustice, and an honest mirror for those who suffered and were marginalised. He wrote about people's pain and played on the strings of truth, without ambiguity. 'Ziad's many distinguished works will remain alive in the memory of the Lebanese and Arabs, inspiring future generations and reminding them that art can be an act of resistance, and that words can be a stance. May Ziad Rahbani rest in peace, and may his music and plays, vibrant with memory and life, remain a beacon of freedom and a call for human dignity.'
New York Times
27-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Ziad Rahbani, Composer Who Defined a Tragic Era in Lebanon, Dies at 69
Ziad Rahbani, an era-defining Lebanese composer, playwright and musician whose songs forged a new sound for the Arab world and whose plays leveled biting critiques of his country's corrupted politics, died on Saturday in Lebanon after a long illness. He was 69. His death was reported by Lebanon's government-run National News Agency. Since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, from which it has never fully recovered, generations of Lebanese have grown up learning Mr. Rahbani's Arab-meets-Western songs by heart and quoting his satirical plays, such as 'A Long American Film' and 'What About Tomorrow?' Those who came of age during the war, like Mr. Rahbani, saw in his pensive, sardonic lyrics the brutalities and contradictions of their tiny country on the Eastern Mediterranean as it tore itself apart. He remained beloved by Lebanese who grew up later, in the war's long shadow, when sectarian divides, corruption and economic malaise came to haunt Lebanese life. Mr. Rahbani came from Lebanese music royalty. His mother, Fayrouz, is a living icon, considered one of the Arab world's greatest singers. His father, Assi Rahbani, was a pioneering composer, who, with his brother Mansour, wrote many of Fayrouz's songs. After his father's death, Ziad Rahbani later assumed the mantle of Fayrouz's chief composer, shifting her style late in her career. In her earlier music, Fayrouz and the Rahbani brothers cast a golden-hued, nostalgic spell, weaving an idyllic vision of life in Lebanon's mountain villages in the prosperous days before war, displacement and upheaval tore the Middle East apart. Ziad Rahbani's compositions for his mother and others were a departure in style and substance. In albums like 'Houdou Nisbi' and 'Abu Ali,' he blended the quarter tones and instruments of traditional Arab music with Western-style jazz and funk, once describing his music to an interviewer as 'Oriental jazz,' or 'something like a hamburger that tastes of falafel.' Yet while he admired Western musicians like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he said, his music was Lebanese. It was music that spoke to Lebanon's distinctive position as an Arab society that embraced Europe and the West. Unlike his mother's earlier work, his songs hewed closer to the reality Lebanon's people lived. 'He left the so-called image of a unified Lebanon or the state of an ideal homeland for the state of a real, divided and fragmented Lebanon,' said Jad Ghosn, a journalist and filmmaker who made a 2019 documentary about Mr. Rahbani. 'He came after Fayrouz to say, 'Enough with the romantic art and enter into realistic art with jazz, contemporary music and realistic poetry.'' The ethereal Fayrouz floated above politics, a difficult feat in a country where most people are identified, and divided, for life by their religious and ethnic backgrounds. But her son Ziad was avowedly political, though not in the way his Greek Orthodox Christian identity might have predicted. An avowed Communist, Mr. Rahbani long supported the Palestinian quest for rights and statehood. His ideas took shape, he said, after right-wing Christian militiamen besieged and massacred Palestinians in Lebanon's Tal el-Zaatar refugee camp in 1976, early in the civil war. He lived with his parents across from the camp during the 53-day siege, and he later told an interviewer that he had surreptitiously recorded meetings between Syrian intelligence officers and right-wing Christian officials that took place at his parents' house so he could report them to pro-Palestinian groups. Because he 'could not bear the situation,' he later told an interviewer, he decided to move to Muslim-dominated West Beirut and leave the family home in Christian-dominated East Beirut, where his pro-Palestinian stance made him unwelcome. Ziad Rahbani was born in 1965 and grew up in Antelias, a coastal town north of Beirut. He began composing when he was around 7 years old, Mr. Ghosn said. By the time he was a teenager, he had already launched a career as a songwriter and musician. The plays he wrote starting in his teens became famous for their sardonic takes on Lebanese politics and society, with humor dark as ink. In 'What About Tomorrow?' (or 'Belnesba Libokra Shou?' in Arabic), which Mr. Rahbani wrote, directed and starred in, in 1978, when he was 22, he depicted a couple struggling to run a bar in the trendy Hamra neighborhood of Beirut. A grainy collage of footage taken during performances of the play was released in 2016 as a film, breaking box-office records in a Lebanon still struggling with many of the same roadblocks. 'They say tomorrow will be better, but what about today?' one character says, one of a number of Rahbani quotes that circulated among Lebanese on social media on Saturday after his death. Lebanese politicians across the political spectrum paid tribute to Mr. Rahbani on Saturday. President Joseph Aoun called him 'a living conscience, a rebellious voice against injustice and an honest mirror for those who suffered and were marginalized,' adding, 'He wrote about people's pain and played on the strings of truth, without ambiguity.' Yet many Lebanese social media users pointed out that such authority figures were exactly the type Mr. Rahbani spent his career skewering. Later in life, Mr. Rahbani openly aligned himself with the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, celebrating the 2006 war with Israel in which the Iranian-backed militia fought the much better-armed Israelis to a draw. He also voiced support for former President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the dictator who brutally repressed his own people during Syria's civil war, which began in 2011 and ended with Mr. al-Assad's overthrow in December. Such attitudes alienated some fans. But Mr. Rahbani was growing more bitter and alienated himself, despairing of Lebanon's prospects and increasingly socially isolated as he grew older. He had stopped answering most calls, Mr. Ghosn said, and had developed a liver condition. Besides his mother, Fayrouz, he is survived by a brother, Haly, and a sister, Rima.
