Dubai, – The memory of Syrian star Sabah Fakhri, who died earlier this week at the age of 88, was honoured at Expo 2020 Dubai today (6 November) with a stunning visual display on Al Wasl Dome, accompanied by the legend’s hit Ya Mal Al-Sham, sung by numerous Arab singers over the years.
 
Sabah Fakhri’s son, Anas Abu Qaws, said: “My father loved the Arabic language, just as much he loved all Arabs. He was happy about every achievement accomplished in the Arab world, including those of the UAE, which, at a critical time for humanity following the spread of COVID-19, managed to bring people and countries of the world together at Expo 2020 Dubai.
 
“Honouring my father today is a kind, humanitarian gesture from Dubai. It is an act of generosity that is not strange to this city, visited and loved by all people for its diversity and high values. Dubai has inspired everyone, especially Arabs, to strive for perfection in work. My father also loved perfection in everything and paid attention to the smallest details to make his work as perfect as can be.”
 
Works by the late artist, which will live on in the hearts of many Arabs, include his chanting of the names of Allah with a group of singers. Fakhri held the Guinness World Record for the longest concert, after he performed for 10 hours straight in the Venezuelan capital city Caracas.
 
On 2 November, the great Syrian artist Sabah Fakhri passed away, after a decades-long career of giving, during which he sang great poems in both standard Arabic and the Aleppine dialect.
 
The legend was born in Old Aleppo in 1933. His real name was Sabah Al-Din Abu Qaws. Since early childhood, Fakhri was surrounded by masters of traditional tarab folk music, Quran reciters and singers of colloquial qudud poems in Aleppine dialect. As a young boy, his father used to take him to Al-Utrush Mosque, where he attended sessions of dhikr, a form of Islamic meditation in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly chanted to remember God, and inshad, traditional art of Islamic singing.
 
Bab Al-Nairab, a neighborhood in Aleppo, witnessed the first paid Inshad session for the late legend, who was eight years old at the time.
 
Throughout his long career, Fakhri sang many Andalusian and other poems, as well as songs loved by fans that he performed during numerous concerts, including Al-Lo’lo’ Al-Mandhoud, Jaat Mouazzibati and Kol Lil Maliha.