Émouvant hommage de Pierre Abi-Saab à Sabah: Arabic tarab loses its ’Shahroura’: We won’t cry, Sabah
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/arabic-tarab-loses-its-%E2%80%98shahroura%E2%80%99-we-won%E2%80%9
Sabah asked us not to cry over her loss, and indeed we won’t. We didn’t even consider crying despite our great grief. In any case, we are sad for ourselves and for the golden age.
We are sad because the last stage of Sabouha’s life was difficult. She was on the brink of destitution and living in between rumors about her death.
We are sad because the ambassador of our golden age, this timeless singer who transcends all epochs from the Lebanese village to Cairo, the capital of renaissance and art in the 1940s and 1950s, brings to an end a time when the artist was first and foremost a singer. A time when all the rest, all the madness, extravagance, spectacles, private life, and “scandals” – if inevitable – came much later, after the voice, talent, and creativity were displayed.
We will be very sad, but we won’t shed any tears. How is it possible to cry over Sabouha? Just her name [which translates to ‘morning’ in English] is a companion to joy, happiness and love of life.