Sabah Fakhri

Sabah al-Din Abu Qaws, universally revered by his stage name Sabah Fakhri, was born in Aleppo and began singing the call to prayer from the minarets of his neighborhood at age six. Educated at the Aleppo and Damascus musical academies under Umar al-Batsh and Maghi al-Ghadban, he mastered the classical Arab vocal canon, Andalusian muwashshahat, and the historic Qudud Halabiya.

Fakhri became a living cultural monument of Aleppo, renowned for vocal performances that generated intense ecstasy (tarab) and his legendary stamina, setting a world record in Caracas in 1968 by singing non-stop for ten hours. Over a seventy-year career, he served as Syrian Member of Parliament and received the Syrian Grand Order of Merit.