Remembering Farid al-Atrash: A Contender in the Age of Giants

"The same family that spearheaded the rebellion against the French in Syria's Druze Mountain after World War I also produced two of the most renowned Arab musical artists of this century. Farid al-Atrash and his sister Amal, along with their brother Fouad, grew up in the religious minority clan of their parents, Princess Alia and Prince Fahd al-Atrash. 

The al-Atrash parents, who moved frequently between the major cities of the Levant in their political struggle against the French, kept watchful eyes on their three surviving children. Princess Alia had lost two of her five children to disease at a young age and became highly concerned about the safety of the others. Her fears were compounded when Farid almost died in a drowning accident in Beirut while playing with another child on a small boat; after that his mother locked him indoors when he was not in school."

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