A monthly women's magazine published by
the Lebanese Women's League
P.O. Box 1284 — Beirut — Lebanon
Responsible Director: Heneni Tarcha
The Supervisory Committee: Afifi Majdalani
Ibtihaj Kaddoura
Rida Jureidini
Lily Badre
Managed and published by
Dar al-Kitab
General Editorial Director: Youssef al-Khal
General Administrative Director: Fuad Badr
Art Director: Ridwan al-Shahhal
Administration: Beirut, Phoenicia Street — the Saab Building — Telephone 65-61
Address: Dar al-Kitab — P.O. Box 1284 — Beirut — Lebanon
Subscription: In Syria and Lebanon, 15 L.L.S. —
in the Arab world, a pound and a half —
abroad, ten dollars —
This amount is paid in advance, either by postal money order or by bank check in the name of "Dar al-Kitab," or through our general agents.
The subscription rate for official departments and institutions is 25 L.L.S. in the Arab world, and 50 L.L.S. abroad.
Advertisements: arranged by agreement with the administration. The administration has a special advertising branch which photographs the advertisement and produces it artistically, in keeping with the level reached by the modern art of advertising.
On a distant day, over which centuries and generations have since passed, the first man opened his eyes to find a chorus of birds playing their music and singing the song of morning... That was the first melody ever to strike the ear of the first man; he listened, moved by the singing, and it inspired him to join the birds in their song, so he bowed down and gave praise...
Song is the language of the emotions the world over, east and west, north and south; there is no difference between the dweller of Paris and the dweller of the mountains of Tibet or the forests of Africa. Man is man: wherever he may be, he breathes out his emotions as melody.
The emotions of youth ripen, and behold, they pour from his mouth as melodies filled with hope and whispered confidences, or with moaning and complaint.
A man goes abroad, far from his homeland, and longing for it shakes him, and he repeats its songs, filled with sweet memories. He returns to it, and scarcely does he glimpse its sky from afar before longing turns to rapture, crowding onto his lips as a beloved tune.
Misfortune strikes a family and sorrow settles over it, and behold, the fires burning in its heart arrange themselves into a mournful elegy with a melody that shakes hearts with anguish.
Yes. It is the language of the emotions in the whole world — so much so that you would imagine the animals themselves understand it and take comfort in it. The camels walk in the desert, and they walk delighted to hear the voice of the camel-driver's chant, brisk to the beat of its melodies... The sheep leave the pasture when the shepherd calls them with his flute, and gather around him, ears pricked for his music... And the nightingales, the masters of song, are those that sing even in their cages... Everything sings, even inanimate things... The sea has its anthems, now clamorous, now calm, and the winds have their songs, now stormy, now gentle... Everything — even the angels used
to come down to earth singing whenever they brought one of heaven's glad tidings to earth.
Songs are the pressed essence of the soul's hopes: they are a speaking picture of the hopes and pains that surge in the breast — so much so that psychologists have agreed that judging a nation's character becomes easy if we observe the kind of songs it sings... And now, have you seen the drunkard leaving the tavern at midnight, crooning as he sways right and left?... Have you then heard his voice in the stillness of the night repeating a song filled with corrupt passion? What he repeats is an echo of the desires surging in his breast... Have you seen the soldier — no sooner does the trumpet of war sound than he charges forward chanting his stirring patriotic songs? These chants are an echo of the ardor surging in his breast, and of the desire to sacrifice himself for the sake of his homeland... Have you heard the worshipper singing his prayers from the depths? He is repeating the echo of the faith and piety stirring within his soul...
And songs have their inspiration... A child may cry and grow restless; his mother takes him in her arms and sings to him, and behold, tranquility steals into his soul and he dozes off smiling, as if he had understood the meaning of the singing... The nerves of some wretch may be shaken until his mind is unsettled and the world grows confused before him — and behold, a sweet musical strain calms what ails him... We all remember how David would play his flute for Saul and soothe what ailed him... In every state and circumstance, a man scarcely hears an angelic voice without feeling that he is rising on two wings toward the heights, as though the voice had whispered to him that there is a better world...
And all people, knowing the effect of songs on the soul, gave every school its anthems — indeed, they gave every nation an anthem to repeat always, drawing from it its strength, its unity, and its patriotism.
The Arabs grasped the effect of song and its inspiration — perhaps they were, after the Greeks, the first to grasp it. And the Arab woman, foster-daughter of the rhymes, knew that effect... Do you not see her beating the tambourines behind the ranks, chanting, promising and threatening, as she sings: