Her first song was composed by Halim al-Rumi, with words by Michael Awadh, and went: I left my heart to follow you/but ended up burning/far away from your love. The second one, In an Atmosphere of Magic and Beauty, was in the Egyptian dialect. Al-Rumi, so excited about the talent he had discovered, introduced Fayrouz to 'Assi Rahbani, a policeman by profession and an aspiring composer who was already aware of the talented new voice and anxious to meet Fayrouz.

Nouhad Haddad singing at the Lebanese Radio Station - 1949

The subsequent collaboration between the composer and the singer eventually resulted in a song that was to launch Fayrouz for the first time as a major talent on a popular scale. At first, however, their efforts were mainly in the area of light, dancy tunes. Beirut was attracting big bands who came from overseas to play tangos and rumbas to an expanding Westernized segment in the Lebanese capital. One of these was the Eduardo Bianco band from Argentina. While recording at the Near East Broadcasting studios, Sabri Sharif, who directed the music section there, suggested a new experiment hitherto untried in Eastern music. Fayrouz was to sing, with Bianco's orchestra, tunes originally composed for dancing, like La Compersita and the tango La Boheme. This took place on October 1, 1951, a decisive day in the life of Fayrouz and the two Rahbani brothers, 'Assi and Mansour. They believed that this was the true beginning of the dance-song in Arab music; only Midhat 'Assim an Egyptian composer, had been experimenting in this direction before.

With conductor Tawfiq al-Basha singing solo at the Near East Radio Station - 1950

Wearing shorts, he sported a cigar and strolled about in the guise of a genius virtuoso who, replete with talent and youth, lacked only the right singer who would catapult him into fame.

The watershed song, that launched their career, was not a dance-song but a melancholc son called 'Itab (Blame) that began: You keep blaming me and I/of blame have had enough/my body has withered away/under the burden/and you say/you want to go away/please do/my heart is used to pain. Overnight, 'Itab established Fayrouz as a major singer throughout the Arab world. One od the reasons for the song's sucess was the excellence of the equipment at the Damascus radio station where the song was recorded on November 12, 1952. Later a commercial disc was cut in Paris.

The young singer was known to her listeners as Yola or as Fatat al-Jabal (Mountain Girl). Al-Rumi suggested that she take the "stage name" Fayrouz (which means "turquoise") because her voice reminded him of a precious stone. At first she thought he was joking, but later on she took his advice.

(From left to right) Fayrouz, 'Assi Rahbani, Halim al-Rumi and Mansour Rahbani - 1951

At that time, radio program went directly on the air and were not record ed. While waiting their turn, Fayrouz and her composer 'Assi, by now her constant companion, used to sit under a tree near a pond in the backyard of the broadcasting studio. Sometimes she daydreamed, but often they chatted together to kill time. She did not anticipate a great future for herself as a singer. Rather, her real dream was to become a teacher. She had said on many occasions that she would never get married. Brought up in a devout Melkite household, almost ascetic in her manners and bearing, Fayrouz was typical of many Lebanese young women of her class and age. Many of the people who have known her tell how they often found her during a break kneeling in prayer somewhere in the vicinity of the recording studio.

(From left to right) Fayrouz, 'Assi Rahbani and Mansour Rahbani in his policeman's attire - 1951

One day Fayrouz, in passing, told 'Assi that she did not like the way he paid attention to a certain girl at the station. This innocent remark did not go unnoticed. She still kept to herself and persisted in her obstinate rejection of the idea of marriage. But on a certain spring day in 1953, while they were practicing together at the edge of the same pond, under the same tree, 'Assi repeated an earlier offer of marriage. This time Fayrouz said yes.

They got married in July, 1954. At their wedding, large crowds of Beirutis gathered in the summer Sunday afternoon to witness the ceremonies. To the Lebanese, Hotel Masabki in Shtura, surrounded by aloe trees, is a dream place, that lies in the heart of Lebanon's mountains; there, right after the wedding, the bride and groom went to spend their honeymoon.

Fayrouz - 1951

When the young couple returned from their honeymoon, they moved into a modern villa in the village of Antilias in the suburbs of Beirut. On one side of the house lay orange groves and the Mediterranean; from the other side, one could see cypress woods and mountains. This typically Lebanese setting contributed to the atmosphere of her future songs.

Fayrouz and Assi Rahbani on their wedding
day surrounded by members of their families;
Fayrouz's younger sisters Hoda and Amal
appear before the bride and bridegroom - 1954

(From left to right) Najib Hankash, Assi Rahbani, Farid al-Atrash,Fayrouz, Muhammad Abd al-Wahab, Badi'a Masabni, Filimon Wahbeh, and Mansour Rahbani - 1955

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