Hours before the arrival of 2016, and in celebration of the New Year, iconic Lebanese singer Fairouz gave her fans a special treat by appearing in an online video.

Reema Rahbany, daughter of the legendary singer, posted the video on her personal Facebook profile.

Fairouz, who recently turned 80, rarely gives such appearances, which renders this video an event extraordinaire.

The one-minute-long video opens with Fairouz standing in front of a set of candles and family photo frames adorning the background.

In the next shot, Fairouz is facing the camera, as she holds a candle and slowly beams with a miniature smile.

The shot unfolds as her voice unravels, singing the following lyrics in Arabic, “The snow sheaths the land/January revisits/A year has ended/A new one has dawned/We have yet to know how it will be like.”

This comes weeks after a Lebanese magazine published an article criticising the singer over her political opinions, arguing that she supports Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and that she loves money.

The article triggered a commotion across social media platforms, inspiring Fairouz’s fans to start online campaigns condemning the article and expressing solidarity with the singer and her rich repertoire.

For her part, Reema Rahbany responded to the accusations levelled against her mother on her Facebook profile by writing that “all attempts to politicise Fairouz end in failure, because if nobility, truth and generosity exist in this life, they are represented by Fairouz and Assi [referring to the late iconic Lebanese composer Assi Rahbani (1923-1986)] , in real life and in [their] art, they are home; the only authentic and cultured homeland, which politics do not approach.”

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