BEIRUT - French President Emmanuel Macron began his trip to Beirut on Monday by visiting Fairouz, one of the Arab world's most famous singers whose haunting voice has been Lebanon's soundtrack from its glamorous heyday through its conflicts and latest trauma.
Anger at Lebanon's political elite over an economic meltdown and this month's devastating port blast was evident as Macron arrived at the home of the year old artist, feted as a national treasure and symbol of peace, transcending factional and sectarian divides in Lebanon and beyond. Protesters gathered outside with placards reading "No cabinet by, or with, the murderers" and "Don't be on the wrong side of history!
I promise you. I won't leave you," he could be heard saying in TV broadcasts. The meeting with Fairouz is a personal gesture from Macron, whose deep engagement with Lebanon has been denounced by his critics as a neocolonialist foray into a former French protectorate. Macron is visiting Beirut for the second time in less than a month to press for a new government made up of experts untainted by corruption and capable of rooting out graft, waste and negligence as well as rebuilding after the August 4 explosion that wrecked swathes of Beirut, killing people.
Macron described his meeting with Fairouz as "very beautiful, very strong. Asked about his favourite Fairouz song, he named "To Beirut," which local channels have played while showing images of the blast and its aftermath. The enigmatic singer rarely speaks publicly but her lyrics fill the airwaves from Rabat to Baghdad.
Her songs were listened to across the religious and factional divide, whether Christian, Muslim or Druze, even as they spilled each others' blood on the streets. Speaking upon his arrival at Beirut airport, Macron said a new line-up should be agreed upon "as soon as possible" to rescue the country, which is reeling from the deadly August 4 port explosion and the effects of an economic collapse.
