Lebanese Composer Mansour Rahbani Dies at 83
Veteran Lebanese composer and musician Mansour Rahbani, a well-known figure in the Arab world, died on Tuesday after a battle with illness. He was 83.
He had been admitted to Hotel Dieu hospital for influenza but later was moved to the intensive care unit following a bout of pneumonia. However, he passed away.
Rahbani was born in 1925 in the town of Antelias, north of Beirut.
He was the brother-in-law of Lebanese singing diva Fairuz, for whom he composed many poems and songs along with his older brother Assi. The two men were known as "the Rahbani Brothers."
They wrote several widely-acclaimed musicals including Petra and Biyaa el Khawatem, which was adapted on screen by Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine.
Following Assi Rahbani”s death in 1986, Mansour”s name came out for the first time after he wrote the play Summer 840.
He later wrote and produced other grand theatrical plays, including The Will, The Last Days of Socrates, Moulouk al Tawaef, The Last Day, Hekm al Rehyan, Gebran and the Prophet, Zenobia, and The Return of the Phoenix which is now playing in Casino du Liban.