Rachel Samocha[1][2] (1895–1955),[2] known professionally as Fayrouz Al Halabiya (Arabic: فيروز الحلبية, lit.'Fairouz of Aleppo')[1] or Fayruz Mamish (فيروز ماميش),[3] was a Syrian singer, who was mainly active in Damascus, Beirut and Cairo. Lebanese singer Nouhad Haddad, known as Fairuz, adopted the stage name as a sign of admiration for her.[2]

Fayrouz Al Halabiya
فيروز الحلبية
Birth nameRachel Samocha
Also known asFairuz Mamish
Born1895
Aleppo, Syria
OriginSyria
Died1955 (aged 59–60)
GenresArabic music
OccupationSinger
Instruments
SpouseHussein Awni Pasha

Biography

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She was born in Aleppo to a Jewish family, and resided in Al Jamiliyeh neighborhood.[4] She worked mainly in Damascus, Beirut and Cairo. She was also a talented oud player, and recorded several songs accompanied by the famous violinist Sami al-Shawa and the Jewish oud player Shehadeh Saada. She was also the teacher of Salih Almuhabik, the singer who represented Syria at the International Arab Music Congress held in Cairo in 1932 and who performed with her in Iraq.[5][2]

She is also remembered from an event in 1920 in which the song, "Ye Malikaan Ezz Nasran" ("Oh Great Victorious King", that was composed by Aleppo musician Ahmed El-Oubry),[6] became famous after she sang it in honor of the king of Arab Kingdom of Syria (who later became king Faisal I of Iraq) when he visited Aleppo. She also sang the national anthem before him: "I saw the sun after it shone. I was fascinated by her beautiful looks and asked the full moon who he loved fiercely, and he complained and cried: the love of the homeland."[4][7][8]

She married Turkish officer Hussein Awni Pasha and traveled to Istanbul in the 1940s and lived there.[4][9]

She died in 1955.

References

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  1. ^ a b Eyal Sagui Bizawe, בחזרה אל תור הזהב: לאן נעלמו כל היהודים שהצליחו כאמנים בארצות ערב?, Haaretz, 30 July 2015
  2. ^ a b c d Amnon Shiloh, מוזיקה רבת־פנים וזהויות, p. 484-485, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Studies, Multidisciplinary Journal of Israel Research, 2016
  3. ^ فيروز الحلبية / فيروز ماميش, arab-zik.com
  4. ^ a b c فيروز الحلبية, sama3y.net, July 2006
  5. ^ المنشد والموسيقار الشيخ صالح المحبك, honahalab.blogspot.com, ‎19 March 2018
  6. ^ الموسيقار الحلبي احمد الأوربري, on عالم الفن والإبداع facebook page, 1 August 2014
  7. ^ أثر الجواري في العصر العباسي Archived 28 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine, wherweare191.blogspot.com, 17 February 2019
  8. ^ فيروز الحلبية / فيروز ماميش, al-fann.net
  9. ^ فيروز ماميش : اوعك تصدق اكون اسير – تسجيل نادر 1926, dig-doc.org