Sabah Passes Away Aged 87
Famed Lebanese singer and actress Sabah whose seven-decade career made her one of the Arab world's best-known entertainers passed away at dawn on Wednesday aged 87.
Born Jeanette Gergis al-Feghali, known as Sabah, the diva was famous across the Arab world for her powerful voice, musical talent and joyful brazenness and is considered among the last of the "giants" — a crop of celebrated Lebanese singers that represent a golden age, including Fayrouz, Wadih el-Safi, Nasri Shamseddine and others.
She was born in the small Lebanese village of Bdadoun, and produced more than 3,000 songs and appeared in more than 90 films and over 20 stage plays.
Sabah was the first Arabic singer to perform at Sydney Opera House, Albert Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York and Olympia in Paris.
She brought out her first song in 1940, while her parallel screen career began three years later in Egypt, the center of the Arabic film industry.
She held Egyptian, Jordanian and U.S. citizenship as well as Lebanese, and continued to perform and make television appearances into her 80s.
Sabah was nicknamed "shahroura," Arabic for "singing bird" and "the Sabbouha," a diminutive for "Sabah" by millions of fans across the Middle East.
She was universally admired for her love of life and positive outlook even in her old age.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that the “our only condolences is that Sabah's legacy will remain engraved in our hearts.”
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat was the first official to express sadness in a tweet over the news, considering that an “entire beautiful past of Lebanon passes away” with the death of Sabah.
“She was a great singer of a Lebanon that my generation knew and that will never come back,” he continued.
The funeral procession will be held at 11:00 am on Sunday at the St. George Greek Orthodox cathedral in downtown Beirut while condolences will be accepted at the cathedral on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
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Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet, Associated Press
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