One day in 1935, Wadi' Haddad moved his wife and two children into a new home on the cobblestone alley called zuqaq al-blat, an old neighborhood in Beirut where the poor of all denominations have for generations found company and shelter. The Haddads new home consisted of a single room on the street level of a typical stone house that faced Beirut's Patriarchate school.

Several other families were also living in the house; the residents shared the kitchen and other facilities. This was a time of migrations when a family could suddenly appear from nowhere and seek their next of kin, relatives, or just acquaintances from their own village who had already arrived in the big city. Wadi' (a name meaning "meek"), who worked as a typesetter in a nearby print shop, was quiet and gentle in manner; he was readily accepted by the folk of the neighborhood as one of themselves.

The eldest child in Haddad's family was a girl named Nouhad (meaning"sigh" or "splendor"), who would later grow up to be Fayrouz, one of the most famous singers of the Middle East and a legend in her own time. From her early childhood, Fayrouz displayed a natural flair for singing. Many a winter night, in neighborhood gatherings, she would surprise everyone by suddenly bursting out into song. Her family could not afford to own a radio, the magical commodity possessed by a fortunate few; it was a vehicle for dreams that, in the houses of the poor, provided solace and a vague feeling of belonging to whatever was throbbing out there beyond their reach. She used to sit on the window ledge to listen to the songs from the neighbor's radio that fascinated her. Some of the songs that she loved to sing over and over again in those early days were those by Laila Murad and Asmahan, two Egyptian women singers famous at that time. She did that as she stood in the backyard washing utensils, kneading the dough for marqouq (the Lebanese mountain bread), or helping her mother in the morning. At the same time, being the oldest, she had to take care of her two sisters, Hoda and Amal, and her brother Joseph. Sharing things was an article of faith, as it still is among the poor. Once a week, a woman neighbor would shout to the mother from the window to send her children over for their bath. She would bathe the Haddad children with her own and before they would be tucked in bed the Haddad girl, lounging on her mattress, would sing for them a song or two for a good night's sleep.

Nouhad Haddad (Fayrouz) - 1946

The father put aside some of his meager income for his children's education, so Fayrouz was able to attend school, where her voice was immediately recognized as having a unique quality that could transmute ordinary national hymns into something beguiling. At a school party one day in 1947, a teacher from the Lebanese Conservatory heard her and was struck by a certain intimation that he had just made a discovery. This man, Muhammad Fleifel, was looking for new talents at that time among school children to sing national hymns for airing on the newly established Lebanese Radio Station. Heanng the golden reverberations latent within the young singer's throat, Fleifel tended to her voice with fatherly care. He instructed her not to eat spicy food, citrus, or anything else that might hurt her vocal cords. He also cautioned her about singing in high register, or parts that required a shrill delivery. Later on, he was instrumental in helping her enter the National Conservatory. Perhaps his most outstanding contribution is that he taught her how to chant verses from the Koran according to what is known as tajwid, the high style of Koranic intonation in classic Arabic.

Nouhad Haddad (Fayrouz) - 1946

One day, when Fleifel was presenting a group of songs sung by Fayrouz among others, the head of the music department at the Lebanese Radio Station, Halim alRumi, happened to hear Fayrouz at the recording room and asked to see the girl. After the program was over, a shy, thin girl came to his office. When he asked her if she wanted to sing on the radio, she said that she did. He asked her to sing something for him other than hymns. She thereupon sang Ya Zahratan Fi Khayali by Farid al-Atrash, and Mawwal by Asmahan. Al-Rumi was deeply impressed by her voice, which was typically Eastern and at the same time flexible enough to render a Western mode admirably. She was appointed as a chorus singer at the radio station in Beirut.

Nouhad singing in a school performance - 1947

"My wish was to sing on the radio," Fayrouz reminisces. "I was told then that I'd be paid 100 pounds ($21.00) a month. To me, this was overwhelming. But at the end of the month I wasn't fortunate enough to fill my eyes with a 100-pound note, because of the tax deductions. It took me a long time to get hold of a 100-pound note intact."

Her father objected to her going to the radio station at first. It took a lot of coaxing and some heavyhanded interference by close acquaintances to convince him. He stipulated that Fayrouz was to be accompanied by her mother, her brother Joseph, or the neighbor's boy when she went to the station.

Nouhad in the forefront singing at the Lebanese Radio Station - 1950

This was a period of practice and observation for Fayrouz. She closely studied the style of delivery of each singer in the chorus, and it often happened that she substituted for another singer who was delayed or failed to appear. She had a keen artistic sensibility and a memory so sharp that she was able to learn by heart in two hours four pages of poetry or five of notation.
 

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