Julia Boutros

 

Julia was born on 1 April, 1968 in Beirut to a Lebanese father and a Armenian-Palestinian mother. She was the second child in her family. Her older brother Ziad Boutros is a composer and her younger sister Sophie Boutros is a director. At the age of 10, Julia used to sing at her school's music band as a Chorus singer until her talent was discovered by Fouad Fadel, a music teacher. She considered Fairuz as her idol.^[1]

Julia Boutros’s career began at the same time of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which had a impact on her choosing a different path then what other new singers would have choosen as a new singer. She has started her career singing in French but then shifted to Lebanese dialect of Arabic considering her audience.

At the age of 12, her first song was released in French. It was a tune titled 'A Maman'(A Mother). The song was dedicated to all mothers on Mother's day.^[2]

In 2006, she released a song “Ahibbai”(My Beloved Ones), the song's lyrics were inspired from a speech that was given by Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of the Hezbollah to his soldiers during 2006 Israel–Hezbollah war. This song made her famous among the supporters of Hezbollah but at the same time also led to criticisms. The song was released after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. The same year, she performed a series of patriotic songs in Lebanon, Syria, Qatar and UAE which resulted in gathering around three million US dollars, the amount was donated to the families of war victims and to the families of Hezbollah fighters and the Lebanese army who were killed.^[3]

She was honored by several Arab countries. She also received the “National Order of the Cedar”, which was awarded to her by the President of Lebanon for her effective role in the resistance movement.

• National Order of the Cedar, 2007^[4]