"Fairuz," she of the golden, tender voice, speaks of her wishes and her dreams — who are the Rahbani brothers, who brought the precious pearl out of its shell?

And the opinion of Mr. Assi Rahbani on music

In a far-off, secluded corner, in a remote, quiet nook of one of the music halls of Radio Lebanon, you come upon a girl slender of figure, calm of features, artless of countenance... The shadow of a bewildered smile hovers on her lips and glows in the recesses of her face, lending it a shade of mystery and enchant-ment... Look closely at her face — bare of every trace of make-up and adornment — and you are struck by

a touch of melancholy that sways in the depths of her eyes and settles on the pages of her dreamy face... It is Fairuz... she of the angelic voice that has risen and soared with souls, lifting spirits up to a world that is all beauty, splendor, and majesty... Which of us has not delighted, on a moonlit evening or a bright, radiant morning, in listening to a calm, tender voice, deep and sincere, borne by the ether to the ear, delicate, dreamy, sweet... Which of us has not cried out with delight on listening to "Reproach" and "Come, Come" and "To a Shepherdess" and "Widad" and the others... All of us have heard that voice, and all of us have cried out in delight at its song; but not one of us knows the owner of that voice — that unknown striver who has so often suffered to make others happy, so often struggled and strived to bring cheer to the weary among the children of humanity...

You try to draw her into conversation, and the words come from between her lips delicate and sweet, like a prayer or one of the sacred hymns:

I said:

— What is this melancholy that draws pictures and shapes upon your face? ... Are you truly in pain, sad...

— I am not happy! ... yet I am not sad to the degree I appear to be...

— What is the source of your troubles? .. Do you find difficulty in your artistic work? ...

— Our conservative Eastern milieu does not yet value singing at its true worth; and so I met with great difficulty from my milieu and my family when I expressed my wish to take up singing. But the weight of those obstacles has grown much lighter now... And I put continuous effort into my work itself...

— What led you to take up singing as a calling?

— Music penetrates into my depths and runs in my veins... When I listen to a piece of music I feel as though I have become nothing — or everything.. my being melts away into the tunes and the melodies...