ON THE occasion of the 136th Commencement Exercises on Saturday 25 June, the American University in Beirut awarded five honourary doctorate degrees. Of all the recipients -- the Aga Khan, Richard A Debs (outgoing chair of AUB's board of trustees), Al-Nahar Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Tueni, Egyptian physics Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail -- it is the legendary singer Fairuz who solicits the greatest attention. The uncontested mistress of Lebanese song, Fairuz worked closely with her husband Assi Rahbani and his brother Mansour. Following a period of reticence and repetition, she made a major comeback in collaboration with her son Ziyad, whose music, benefiting as it does from jazz and a wide variety of international sounds, brought out previously undiscovered dimensions of her voice and especially her performance style. That voice, pure enough to evoke the angels, has come to be identified with some of the Arab world's best loved paeans to the joys of simple village life on Mount Lebanon, love of country and Arab identity, especially of Jerusalem; and, following collaboration with Ziyad, the trials and tribulations of life and love in an urban context. Fairuz's voice united Lebanon all through the civil war, during which the country degenerated into warring factions -- all of whom nonetheless continued to listen to her. In the Arab world, it has been compared to a beam of light, in contrast to Umm Kulthoum's deep-rooted, earthy treasure. She is often listened to in the morning -- a pleasant, magical awakening that heightens the senses and clears the spirit.
