Fakhrī al-Bārūdī

Biography

Fakhri al-Barudi was a Damascene poet, writer and nationalist whose arts patronage intersected with cultural and civic projects.

The Damascus History Foundation credits his participation in establishing Damascus Radio, Syrian television, the Damascus International Fair and Damascus scouting, alongside the Barudi Information and Propaganda Office. It describes support for artists, painters, poets, dancers and theatre, and names his poem Bilad al-Arab Awtani. The foundation’s young historians’ award bears his name. Ahmad Dali’s architectural study describes the family home in Damascus’s Qanawat district, occupied by Muhammad Fakhri al-Barudi after his father and grandfather. It connects his 1936 imprisonment to the sixty-day strike and lists poetry, memoirs, the Shami and music dictionaries, and his newspaper Hatt bil-Khurj. This is biography attached to a surveyed historic house, rather than a document establishing his precise birth address. He collected and notated Arab musical heritage, especially muwashshahat and samah dance. Hiba Tarjuman links the Syrian Oriental Music Club to his collaboration with Tawfiq al-Sabbagh and describes the 1947 institute as a renewed phase after an earlier 1943 establishment. A 1950 decree preceded the 15 March 1951 opening; closure years differ. This historical account draws on later sources, rather than an inspected original decree.