[lady.d]

The Rahbany Brothers

A year later, they returned to Antelias where they met Father Paul Ashqar, a meeting which would prove later to be the cornerstone of things to come from these two boys.
They taught themselves how to play Albuzoq and, later, after Assi found a 10 pound note at the restaurant, he used it to buy a violin which he played while continuing his studies at the hands of Father Paul Ashqar.
They studied harmony and the history of oriental music from rare books which were in the possession of Father Paul, and soon started writing their own primitive compositions, starting with a song for Father Paul on his birthday and religious pieces which they shared with the choir.
The year 1944 saw a new stage in their artistic life. They started presenting long musical plays with story lines and composed short songs of no longer than two-three minutes which found positive responses from the Damascus and Near East radio stations, the directors of which found in them a new alternative to the usual long and repetitive songs familiar at the time.