Elias Rahbani
Lebanese lyricist and composer (1938-2021)
Elias Hanna Al Rahbani (Arabic: إلياس حنا الرحباني; 26 June 1938 – 4 January 2021) was a Lebanese musician, composer, songwriter, orchestra conductor, and reality television personality, sitting as judge on a number of talent shows. He composed more than 2,500 songs, including 2,000 in Arabic. He wrote the soundtrack for more than 25 films, a number of TV series, and also composed musical scores for the piano. He composed songs for a number of artists, including Sabah and his sister-in-law Fairuz.
Early life
Rahbani was born into a musical family. His older siblings were Assi and Mansour, known as the Rahbani brothers. He studied music at the Lebanese Academy (1945–1958) and did his specialization at the National Music College from 1955 to 1956. His older brothers also arranged private lessons for him for almost ten years, under the supervision of French music professors.
In 1957, at the age of nineteen, Rahbani wanted to continue his musical studies in Moscow but injured his right hand, which meant the end of his dreams of becoming a major piano player. He later trained with his left hand and concentrated on music composition instead.
The public source identifies “Elias Rahbani” as lebanese lyricist and composer (1938-2021). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Elias, Rahbani and Lebanese.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6835123. VIAF identifies the subject as 19882666. The Library of Congress control number is no2007132199. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 2021, 1945 and 1958.
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This entry incorporates text from “Elias Rahbani” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.