“To Beirut,

From my heart a greeting of peace to Beirut

And kisses to the sea and the houses,

To a rock shaped liked the face of an old fisherman”

She starts the song with a greeting of peace to Beirut, indicating this song is a direct response to the war that was inflicted upon the city and made it so unrestful. She continues to mention the physical features of Beirut, from its coastal line to the old houses of Beirut, to the famous Pigeon rocks that have since become national icons of Lebanon (Marsi). Continuing the song, Fairuz sings:

“She [Beirut] is wine from the spirit of the people [of Lebanon]

From its sweat [of the people], she is bread and jasmine.

So how did its taste become the taste of fire and smoke”

By situating Beirut’s importance in Lebanon’s identity, Fairuz makes the case of how that identity has been perverted because of war. Asking how did this happen to Beirut, she implies that no one truly understands the war as it is and the confusion that persisted throughout the war.

Continuing onwards, Fairuz visualizes what Beirut has suffered in the next few verses;

“Of blood, of a child held in its palm,

My city has extinguished its lantern,

She [Beirut] closed her door,

Became at night alone

Alone with the night”

By referring to Beirut with feminine pronouns and giving her the status of a mother that is holding the blood of a child in her hand, Fairuz explicitly situates Beirut within a female’s body and juxtaposes it with the war that was destroying the city. This verse directly positions Beirut as the Madonna and the blood of its child, Lebanon, lying in her hand. Hence, through this song, Fairuz not only discusses Beirut but uses the city as a metaphor for her country, which has been at the heart of her artistic life for many years.

“Oh, embrace me; you are mine”

Through this song, Fairuz was able to envision Beirut as more than just a physical place; it became a living breathing women who could feel the war destroying her and thus, the lyrics of the song acted as an eulogy to historic city. The expression ‘alone with the night’ refers to the darkness the veiled Beirut; physically in terms of the smoke from bombs and grenades, and symbolically from the destruction of the peace that once was present in the city. In the final few verses of the song, Fairuz sings:

“Oh, embrace me; you are mine

My banner, and the stone of tomorrow, and the waves of my travel.

The wounds of my people have blossomed

The mothers’ tears have blossomed

You, Beirut, are mine

You are mine

Oh, embrace me” (Fairuz).

This ending reiterates how Beirut and Fairuz are inseparable and they are one; her past was Beirut and her future is Beirut, and in a time where Beirut has fallen due to the war, Fairuz offers solace to the city with an embrace. The significance of this line lies in the analysis where both the singer, Fairuz, and the city, Beirut, are female bodies that only find comfort in each other presence and thus, rendering the war a masculine threat. Moreover, Beirut is again positioned as a mother and Fairuz sings that her tears are blossoming, implying that the war will come to end because of the shared pain everyone had seeing the city get destroyed and torn apart. The song ends with the singer asking Beirut to embrace her, finding peace and comfort in her being.

For Fairuz, this song represented the pinnacle of what Lebanon lost during the Civil War and it needed to be recovered. Hence, when she chose to return to Martyr’s square in 1994, it was this song that was sung and helped bridge the gap between the two sects of her country. In a country that is still suffering from the continuous unrest, Fairuz provides moments of peace and pride in the Lebanon that continues to live through her song.

Posted from: https://raseef22.net/article/1076065-fairuz-li-beirut-and-lebanese-nationalism