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The Rahbany Brothers

Baalbeck continued to draw huge audiences every year with the plays “Jesr alqamar”, “Dwaleeb elhawa”, “Ayyam Fakhreddine”, “Jibal elsuwwan” and “Natouret almafateeh”.

In 1964, the Brothers were contacted by the managers of the Arz Festival who were interested in a program similar to those of Baalbeck. The Rahbanys came up with “Biyyaa’ alkhawatem”, a totally different experiment. The play was sung in its entirety from beginning to end. Ten thousand people attended the first night’s presentation, and eleven thousand attended the second night. The size of the crowd was unheard of before.

Success followed them wherever they were. Invitations and requests came from all sides and they started working non-stop. In 1967, the Itani Brothers asked for a work to be presented at the Piccadilly Theater every year. The Rahbanys began to prepare a program for Baalbeck or Al Arz Festivals in the summer, another program for Damascus, and a third one, usually a play, for the Piccadilly Theater in winter starting with “Hala wal malek”. All this in addition to the concerts that were held out of Lebanon and Syria. They worked in the office and at home, writing, composing, training and planning day and night. The abundance of their work was unparalleled and unheard of before.

A new TV station was established in Lebanon in 1962 and the Rahbany Brothers were asked to prepare a musical program for the inauguration day. After insisting on their own terms to safeguard the quality of their work, they prepared their first TV presentation “Aleswara” which was received with high acclaims. Thereafter, even though the station continued to ask for more programs, the Rahbany Brothers deliberately apologized rationalizing their decision by not wishing to be “burned” by continuously appearing on screen.