“Do not pronounce the name Fayrouz! Neither at your parties nor in your evenings or conversations. Enough trading while we are here! Do you understand?”
These are some of the phrases contained in the latest publication by director Rima Rahbani. With a nail polish emoji and a signature with her triple name, Rima, the heiress of Assi and Fayrouz, charts a new path for the Rahbaniyah-Rahbaniya disputes.
This severity is not new to the lengthy posts on Rima’s Facebook page. Disagreements have escalated in recent years to a record level, and have become available to Al-Aalam through statements and tweets.
“Rahbaniyat” by Omar Ghadi Rahbani
The brief statement that Rima published on Monday morning revealed that she was paving the way for an expanded statement by which she meant Mansour’s grandson, Omar Ghadi Rahbani, who is scheduled to perform a concert on October 12 at the Casino du Liban under the title: “Rahbaniyat.”
The main problem, in Rima’s opinion, is “harming” the Rahbani and Fayrouz archives without obtaining prior permission. Basically, she will not give this right because Mansour “was putting sticks in the wheels for Fairouz in all places and sending her warnings,” as she said in her statement. This announcement indicates a late response from Rima to her uncle. A response to previous practices, after it acquired legal authority to do so, after the authority had previously been in the hands of Mansour. “The world is round,” as the popular saying goes.
The response was detailed in her last post. “May God grant us patience and not neglect,” Rima said: “He tried to stop many of Fayrouz’s concerts,” and “he filed a lawsuit against Fayrouz in Sharjah after he received his financial share of it,” and “he asked to bring her with bare hands under the pretext of distorting the play Saha El Nom.” She reminded Mansour’s heirs “Salbatta” and stopping the play “Yayesh Yaish” and preventing Fairouz from re-working it.
The fact is that the spark of the Rahbani conflict began to appear after Assi’s death in 1986, and escalated before Mansour’s departure. The latter filed a lawsuit against Fairouz in 2008, demanding that she pay $100,000 for presenting the play “Sah al-Num” in Damascus, in addition to his rights to the songs she performed at concerts. Press information at the time indicated that Mansour’s will included his desire to pursue lawsuit procedures against his brother’s wife.
Osama Rahbani: There is no disagreement
“The statement is clear and there is no disagreement,” said the head of the Council of Authors and Composers in Lebanon, Osama Rahbani, during his response to Al-Modon’s questions, refusing to involve him in any debate related to the Rahbani-Rahbani dispute.
However, from the point of view of distant observers, and those concerned with artistic affairs and cultural heritage, the dispute falls within the context of what Rima imposed on everyone who sang for Fairouz, or was going to sing, or was thinking of singing for her, or disposed of her work in any way… and she had previously criticized Artists sang songs for Fairouz in concert stages and festivals, and it put an end to the circulation of songs on electronic pages that do not belong to Fairouz’s official pages, and in principle, it acts correctly to protect intellectual property rights on social networking sites, despite some exaggeration, as Fairouz practically does not belong to anyone. Rather, it is a Lebanese, national and Arab heritage.
Ziad is absent…present with Rima
The irony is that Rima’s brother, the composer and music arranger Ziad Rahbani, entered into the same debate, and his name was added to the signature in the two statements that Rima recently published. Ziad, who had not previously intervened in disputes, but had previously tried to resolve disputes, has today become an essential part of Rima Rahbani’s team in the face of their cousins Marwan, Ghadi and Osama.
In addition, Rima took responsibility for all the logistical and practical matters of the Assi family, which is the famous name currently, and she personally re-publishes her data through Fayrouz’s official account on social networking sites.
In fact, Rima is trying to stand as a solid barrier against everything that she considers to be an attack on her mother’s legacy. The dispute is heating up today, and the matter has become provocative for everyone who considers Fairouz’s works a public national heritage.
Moral and material rights
Legally, the emotional Lebanese and Arab connection to Fayrouz does not justify arbitrarily disposing of her rights. The Administrative Body of the Council of Authors and Composers was established in Lebanon, headed by Osama Rahbani, and under the supervision of the International Authors, Composers and Music Publishers Company (SACEM), which works to preserve the material rights of authors and composers, including songs that are shown in cabarets and restaurants, for example.
Bashir Azzan, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, refers to Law No. 75 issued in 1999 regarding artistic and literary rights in the public domain. He says that this law stipulates in Article 49 that the author’s material rights shall enjoy the protection stipulated in this law throughout the author’s life, plus fifty years effective from the end of the year in which the author’s death occurred.
As for joint works, that is, in the case of the Rahbani brothers, protection continues during the life of the joint authors, plus fifty years after the death of the last co-authors, and it applies from the end of the year in which the last death occurred, according to Article 50 of the same law.
Regardless of the debates and disagreements, the fans of the Rahbanis and Fayrouz today are only waiting for the preservation of the value of the Fayrouz away from the inflammatory situation. For its wide audience, it is of great value and a national heritage. As for disagreements, the public is not concerned with them. It is enough for him to enjoy this lyrical, artistic and aesthetic legacy, without being disturbed by debates.
