A Letter to Fairuz
By Mohammad Yassin Al-Saleh – Syrian Minister of Culture
I am not writing to you to offer my official condolences, but to express the pain, longing, and questions that culture carries. From the time of your song “People Asked Me” (Sa’alouni Al Nas) until today, they have been asking: How can a woman’s voice be a homeland? And how do we console that homeland?
Your voice, my lady, was never merely singing; it was a sentimental upbringing for a whole generation, a partner in national pain, a consolation in the darkness of war, and a celebration on the mornings of victory, like in your song: “We are coming back, O love” (Rageen Ya Hawa).
You are the one who turned poetry into a warm home, melody into a bridge to memory, and theater into a sanctuary of hope. How can we offer our condolences when you are the one who brought forth the meanings of beauty from the dictionaries of the sun?
Fairuz did not only sing for Damascus, but internalize it, as great poems are clothed in garments of light. It was Fairuz, whose voice the world heard for the first time on the airwaves of “Radio Damascus”, and whose great songs resounded from the grounds of the “Damascus International Fair”: “Cham, what is glory? You are the glory that has not faded.” “Cham, your people are my loved ones”. “O Cham, the mole and rose of the universe! You who by your beauty have tormented chisels”.
In your songs “The Flower of Cities” (Zahrat al-Mada’en), “I Sang Mecca” (Ghanneit Makka), and “I Love You, Lebanon” (Bahebak Ya Lebnan), you were a true ambassador for the Arab conscience, when politics betrayed it and geography divided it.
As the Ministry of Culture in the Syrian Arab Republic strives to repair what has been shattered by the years, it realizes that there can be no national rejuvenation without the nation returning to its authenticity. You are a pillar of this authenticity, for Fairuz was not just a singer, but a vision.
I offer my condolences, while we are the ones consoled by your voice. I pray for you to stay healthy and have a long life. I affirm that Syria still holds, with high regard, love and respect for you. It longs for you as a country longs for rain.
I offer my condolences for the loss of your beloved son, the artist, who brought a lot to Arabic music, as a bold modernizer and innovator, despite the fact that our political stances and humanitarian visions differed.
From Damascus, the city of the soul, and from every Syrian man and woman who sang “Together We Were Raised” (Sawa Rbina) with you, laughing and crying, please accept my sincere condolences and love.
Mohammed Yassin Al-Saleh
Minister of Culture