An immortal icon in her native Lebanon, Fairuz's ethereal voice blends both Western and traditional Lebanese influences.

In early performances, her clear soprano, accompanied by Arab and European instruments in shorter compositions, revolutionised music in the Levant and cemented her status as a symbol of Middle Eastern modernity.

Fairuz's emergence coincided with Lebanon's transformation into the financial and cultural heart of the Arab world. Her oeuvre spans genres and decades, from nostalgic folk songs to poems by Khalil Gibran set to music. Blending Lebanon's past and present with a mythical vision for its future, her music gave voice to a new national consciousness - bridging divides in a region fractured by violence.

As The New York Times wrote: ''It's like Americans talking about Frank Sinatra, who represents a certain era, a certain country, a certain vision of the world...”