I- Biography:

Mansour Rahbani was born in Antelias (1925), and was grown up surrounded with artistic environment . He pursued his studies at the Ibreen Sisters School of Antelias , Farid Abou Fadel School , Kamal Moukarzel School and the Jesuit School at Bikfaya . After the death of his father , Mansour was early obliged to face the bitter side of life through joining the Beirut juridical police , while he was seventeen year old . He received his first musical education by Father Paul EL Ashkar , then studied the Eastern Music , the musical scores , melodies , harmony , contrapoint , orchestration and analys , beside his acquaintance to the valuable rare references such as the Kamel el Khalay book , the compositions of El Kendy and El Faraby , and the Shehabiya research in the Arabic Music Melodies .

He spent nine years as a student of Mr Bertrand Robillard , which is considered the main paste-board to show his talent that changed the fate of the eastern music and song as said by the great composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab . During his musical education he collaborated with his brother Assi Rahbani to found “ the Rahbani Brothers “ crossing together the limits of egotism and singleness , and they entered the Lebanese radio in 1945 with their new artistic trend . It is known that the delivery of the Rahbanian song was not easy , however it had the capability of facing the strong current of the old traditional song and heritage that was dominating the whole Eastern World since the beginning of the twentieth century through Salma Hegazi and Abdou El-Hamoli .

Thereafter , the two brothers joined the Near East Radio , where they composed several artistic works including sketches named “ Sabeh & Makhoul “ . When Assi Rahbani married Nouhad Haddad known as Fayrouz in 1955 , the two brothers formed with Fayrouz the new Rahbani trio that the brothers used to compose their poems , which were sung by Fayrouz . The Rahbani brothers have inspired their music from the Arabian , Islamic , Maronite and the Byzantine heritage , beside the Lebanese folklore , and they deeply studied the western classical music . Concerning The Rahbanian singing theatre , it is considered a unique type that differs from the international operas for its special style known as the Rahbani theatre , which composes dignity , truth , delicacy and the deep view of its philosophic subjects used to concentrate the three main subjects , God Human and the Land . From the Picadilly Theatre in Beirut the Rahbani theatre flied to the whole Arabian world showing their distinguished performances in Jordan , Kuwait ,Iraq , Egypt Emirates , Syria , Tunisia , Morocco , Algeria and Libya beside their several artistic tours in London , Manchester , Paris , Rio de Janeiro , Sao Paolo , Buenos Aires , twelve states from the USA and Canada , the Rahbani theatre used to write for the country , the land , the history , the future , the poor people and the commoners with a special interest in the Lebanese folklore .

Also the Rahbani theatre used to patronize the Arabian problems represented in their numerous songs for the Palestinian and the Algerian crises . The Rahbani theatre has introduced a new generation of singers who became famous stars in the Arabian world . The Rahbani’s repertoire includes plays , poems , melodies that were introduced in the world famous universities like the Sorbon , Harvard , Oxford , and the Arabian and Lebanese universities . In addition the Rahbani extended their activities to the cinema through three films Biaa el Khawatem (The Rings Seller) , Safar Barlek ( The Exil ) and Bent el Hares ( Tthe Guardians Daughter ) After the death of Assi , Mansour Rahbani individually made huge theatrical plays “ Summer 840 ” ,
“ The Will ”,“ The last Days of Socrates ”, “ He Rose on the 3rd Day ” , “ The Maronite Mass ” , “ Abou Tayeb Al- Moutanabbi ” ,“ Moulouk At Tawaef ” , “ The Last Day”, “Hekm al Rehyan”. Gibran and The Profet , Aoudat Al Phoenix.

II- Rahbanography:

Works of the Rahbani Brothers ( Assi and Mansour ) before Assi’s death

Theater:

1957 : « The harvest time » Baalbeck
1959 : « Trial » Baalbeck
1960 : « The glory time » Baalbeck
1961 : « The baalbacki girl » Baalbeck
1962 : « The moon bridge » Baalbeck
1963 : « The soldiers’ return Capitol Cinema Theater
1963 : « The night and the lamp Casino Du liban – Damascus
1964 : « The rings seller » The Cedars – Damascus
1965 : « The windmills » Baalbeck
1966 : « The reign of Fakhr El Din Baalbeck
1967 : « Hala and the King Piccadilly – The Cedars – Damascus
1968 : « The Person » ( AL SHAKHS ) Piccadilly – Damascus
1969 : « The Sylex mountains » baalbeck
1970 : «Viva!Viva »(YA3ICH YA3ISH ) Piccadilly
1971 : «Good morning»( Sah Al Naoum ) Piccadilly – Damascus
1972 : « The keys’ keeper » Baalbeck – Damascus
1972 : « Paper people » Baalbeck – Damascus
1973 : « The station » Piccadilly
1973 : « Love poem » Baalbeck
1974 : « Loulou » Piccadilly – Damascus
1975 : « Mays El Rim » Piccadilly – Damascus
1976 : « Variety show » Damascus – Amman – Baghdad - Cairo
1977 : « Petra » Amman – Damascus
1978 : « Petra » Piccadilly – Cadino Du Liban
1980 : « The conspiracy continues » Casino Du Liban
1984 : « The seventh spring » George V theater – Abidjan – Lagos
… : « A variety of theatrical shows» On world stages abroad

Cinema:

1965 : « The Rings Seller »
1966 : « Safarbarlak »
1967 : « The guard’s daughter »
And hundreds of TV and radio shows , programs, series , and sketches as well as thousands of songs around the world for famous singers .

Works of Mansour Rahbani after Assi’s death

Theather:

1988 : « Summer 840 » Casino Du Liban – Piccadilly- Tripoli – Beitedine – Zahleh - Damascus – Jericho festival – Carthage – Hammamat .
1994 : «The will » George V theater – Piccadilly – Amyoun Damascus – Jericho festival – Dubai .
1998 : « The Last days of socrates » Casino Du Liban – Cairo Opera house – Abu dhabi .
1998 : « rahbanic anthology » baalbeck – repetition of three pieces of the Rahbani Brothers with fairuz : the moon bridge – the Sylex mountains – the keys’ keeper .
2000 : « He Rose on the 3rd day » Casino Du Liban
2001 : « Abu – Tayeb Al Mutanabbi » Dubai – baalbeck – Damascus – Forum de Beyrouth – Amman .
2003 : « Kings of Comunities » Casino Du Liban
2004 : « The Last Day » Casino Du Liban
2004 : « The reign of the shepherds » Beiteddine festivals – Damascus – Opera House – Allepo – Forum de Beyrouth – Qatar .
2005 : « Gibran and the Prophet » Byblos festivals

Musical composition:

2000 : « The Holy Mass » St Elijah Church – Antelias.
A large number of songs and musical compitions and compilations

Television:

1988 : « Mansour Rahbani reads » 31 episodes dedicated to the most eminent Arab poets, read by Mansour Rahbani
1997 : « Stages » ( MAHATTAT ) 13 episodes of variety shows

Poetry :

« I , the other strange man » ( collection of poems )
« alone , I travel as king » ( collection of poems )
In addition to many lectures about arts , poetry and music in many Arab countries as well as a large number of articles about the Rahbani experience and a collection of poems to be published very soon .

In preparation :
A new piece of theater : The phoenix return
A number of poetic , musical and literary works .

Mansour Rahbani young

►► Some of the artist's poetry
►► Profile of Rahbani Brothers

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