Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., November 09, 2007 Cheshvan 28, 5768 | | Israel Time: 11:24 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Print Edition Diplomacy Defense Arts & Leisure Real Estate Jewish World National Advertising Magazine Week's End Business Opinion Rosner's Domain Anglo File Books Travel

Lebanese singer Fairuz performing in Amman on Friday. (AP) del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 08:14 05/11/2007 Israeli Arabs get rare chance to see legendary singer Fairuz By Omer Barak tags: Israeli Arabs, Fairuz, Amman  AMMAN - A convoy of dozens of buses made its way from Israel to Amman last Friday, carrying more than 3,200 Israeli Arabs: Muslims, Christians and Druze, of every age from 15 to 75. They were on their way to Amman to hear "the Arab world's ambassadress to the stars," Fairuz. For many, this was the realization of a dream - to hear Fairuz not over the radio, but live. These days, concerts by the 72-year-old Lebanese legend are rare, and each one could be her last. Ironically, last weekend's opportunity was made possible by the Second Lebanon War. A new musical starring Fairuz had been slated to open on July 13, 2006, at Lebanon's prestigious Baalbek festival. But the war broke out on July 12, the festival was called off, and two of the scheduled performances were relocated to Amman. Arab Israelis cannot legally travel to Lebanon, but they can to Amman, and local travel agencies jumped at the golden business opportunity. F Advertisement ans came from all over Israel - Haifa and Baka al-Gharbiyeh, Ussfiyeh and Umm al-Fahm - to see Fairuz in "Wake Up," a revival of a political satire from the 1970s. Maryam Awad, 27, of Haifa, was there with several fellow counselors from the Arab branch of the Noar Haoved Vehalomed youth movement. "In the movement's camps, we wake up every morning to an hour of Fairuz," she explained. In the hall, the curtain rose only half an hour late, revealing a crowd waiting for the king to awaken. At the front of the stage stood a woman with a yellow umbrella, her back to the audience. As she broke into song, and the audience recognized the most famous voice in the Arab world, they stood up and cheered. Some even wept. For the next hour and a half, Fairuz took center stage. She played a poor woman who needed the king's signature to enable her to build a roof to finally replace her umbrella. But the king awakens only once a month, for one day, during which he approves only three requests. Thus Fairuz's character decides to take the law into her own hands: As he sleeps, she steals his signet and approves all of his subjects' requests. When the king next awakens, he has trouble recognizing the vibrant, rebuilt city. At first, he sentences the woman responsible to severe punishment. But eventually, she is pardoned and granted the right to keep the signet. At the end of the show, Fairuz took a single bow and left, without even a smile at the crowd. The woman whose songs were once banned in her own country because she refused to sing for a visiting president, on the grounds that "she sings for people, not for leaders," who canceled a performance after Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri's assassination because "she will not sing for a divided nation," who dedicated songs and entire performances to the Palestinians and the intifada, felt no need to add to the message of her musical: Let the leaders, the people, the artists, all wake up! For Awad, who delivered a lecture on the bus to Amman on why national service could benefit Israeli Arabs, that message was not enough. "It's too simplistic, old and outdated, not critical," she said. She even speculated that Fairuz staged the show "solely for the money." It is just as well that Amir Nasser al-Din from Daliat al-Carmel did not hear her. The 20-year-old, who describes himself as "Fairuz's No. 1 admirer in Israel," spent three days in Amman going from hotel to hotel in an effort to find the singer, for whom he had prepared a special photo album. He only got as far as her personal photographer, but the latter promised to pass on the album. In an emotional interview with Abu Dhabi television after her show, he stammered: "For me, Fairuz is God. More than God." In Amman, Nasser al-Din was also able to finally meet friends from Syria and the Palestinian Authority whom he had discovered over the Internet, via the Fairuz Online forum. All of them were a trifle disappointed: They were unable to get her autograph. But the disappointment was marginal, and they ardently defended her from all criticism. She is cold to her fans? "Her daughter is to blame." Unlikeable? "Shy." Kept her back to the audience the whole time? "That's her role in the play." After all, they came to Amman to touch their dream, not to awaken from it. Bookmark to del.icio.us Preface to peace? The U.S. has rejected Abbas' demand for a schedule for the final-status agreement. Crowd control The IFA has banned Beitar Jerusalem fans from two home games for booing Rabin.   1.   So be it 06:09  |  sh 05/11/07   2.   ARABS LEAVING ISRAEL IS GOOD NEWS. MAKE MORE CONCERTS FOR THEM))) 07:29  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 05/11/07   3.   ARABS LEAVING ISRAEL-ONE MORE PROOF IT`S NOT THEIR HOMELAND))) 07:32  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 05/11/07   4.   To # 3 Arabs Leaving Israel 07:56  |  Alan 05/11/07   5.   #4, Ignore Voice of a Lie 08:46  |  Eli 05/11/07   6.   More concerts for all in Amman 09:19  |  Slibovitz 05/11/07   7.   Fairuz and others 10:28  |  Bandar Michaels 05/11/07   8.   great song, bad translation 11:04  |  Neighbor 05/11/07   9.   She is originally Palestinian from Bethlehem, not Lebanese 11:28  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07   10.   fairuz should drop her bad Lebanese citizenship and leave 11:31  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07   11.   #4: Absolutely correct! 11:32  |  Michael Steiner 05/11/07   12.   Tamir...you are right, she is originally Palestinian 12:00  |  Wasim 05/11/07   13.   yes tamir, and micheal jordan is from Gaza 12:00  |  Mike 05/11/07   14.   No Mike, I think he is from Ashkelon near Gaza 12:20  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07   15.   moshiach is a troll? I wish! 13:01  |  Meir Gush Etzion 05/11/07   16.   She is a Diva 13:58  |  Aklas 05/11/07   17.   Nasser al-Din puts his head on the block of Islamic intolerance 14:31  |  Nik Miller 05/11/07   18.   Wiki says she`s Lebanese & even part Maronite! 15:44  |  Who Cares 05/11/07   19.   Fayrouz 16:46  |  sgc2 05/11/07   20.   To all jewish inciters: FYI, she is so great 16:58  |  Rami 05/11/07   21.   to # 16 16:59  |  Rami 05/11/07   22.   to # 16: her wish is to one day sing in Jerusalem.. 17:00  |  Rami 05/11/07   23.   she is a legend, what many don`t know about her.. 17:04  |  Rami 05/11/07   24.   sgc2 - I expect great things from Palestine 20:12  |  Slibovitz 05/11/07   25.   Hey Rami, why doesn`t she come to Israel to sing? 21:03  |  B`Galil 05/11/07   26.   Bandar Michaels # 7 21:12  |  Philippe 05/11/07   27.   B`Galli: unless there is peace, i don`t think.... 21:16  |  Rami 05/11/07   28.   Philippe # 26 00:59  |  christa 06/11/07   29.   Rami # 22 01:41  |  Philippe 06/11/07   30.   FAIYRUZ IS LEBANESE !! 03:37  |  Joe 06/11/07   31.   Fairuz. 04:25  |  sandra chitayat. 06/11/07   32.   sandra chitayat 08:25  |  sh 06/11/07   33.   SHE IS ARAB 08:52  |  Arab All the Way 06/11/07   34.   The Infidel`s not that great, but I hope they don`t kill her 10:36  |  Efox 06/11/07   35.   homeland 11:41  |  said 06/11/07   36.   Fairuz Is an "EMERALD" A rare Jem. 14:54  |  Ziad I Maddah 06/11/07   37.   Listen to her singing 16:21  |  Thnks 06/11/07   38.   ARAB ALL THE WAY - wrong 17:22  |  notblackorwhite 06/11/07   39.   Crista # 28 03:00  |  Philippe 07/11/07   40.   "Every time she sings, She brings peace to the Middle East" 11:02  |  Rabih 09/11/07

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