The 'Aura' of home: Fairouz and the arab diaspora of Doha, Qatar

Abstract

In Arabic restaurants, sitting rooms and cars around the world, her voice filters through the airwaves, transporting listeners to narrow alleyways, cobblestones and the Mediterranean Sea, to a time of innocence and peace, determination and war, stability and acceptance. Her songs, melancholy memory and patriotic love shape Arab heritage and offer a focal point for identity construction. For many Arabs in the diaspora, Fairouzs music is a tool of expression, a proxy for nostalgia and a call for resistance. Through a theoretical framework that combines affect, the mnemonic imagination and migration, I highlight the preliminary findings of my PhD research. This research involves a series of interviews with members of the Arab diaspora living in Doha, Qatar. I examine the role Fairouzs music played in the lives of these interview subjects.