Google celebrates the man known as the King of the Oud

Google is celebrating Farid Al-Atrash, a Syrian musician and actor, with a dedicated doodle on its home page. The composer, singer, instrumentalist, actor and film producer, who was regarded as one of the region's greatest performers of his time, was born on this day in 1910. He released more than 220 songs and starred in 31 musical films throughout his long and prolific career. Known as the “King of the Oud”, he appears in the middle of the search company’s logo alongside the stringed instrument. Al-Atrash was born into a prominent family in Jabal Al Druze in the Syrian province of Suwayda. But his family fled to Egypt to escape the French occupation. They settled there and were later naturalised by the Egyptian government. Inspired by his mother, who sang and played the oud, Al-Atrash developed an interest in music. By the early 1930s he was a regular on Egyptian radio, playing the oud. But he is said to have attained a new level of fame after starring in 1941 film Intisar Al-Chabab , or Victory of Youth, for which he composed all of the music. He had a hugely successful career but his personal life was unhappy. He never settled down, claiming marriage killed art, and had a relationship with Queen Nariman, the consort of Egypt's King Farouk I. The queen’s family never accepted Al-Atrash, leading to their separation. That caused the singer to sink into a long depression, which is said to have set off a series of health problems that eventually brought about his death in 1974 at the age of 64. Google frequently uses its doodles to celebrate people, countries, anniversaries and events. It created its first back in July 2000 to celebrate Independence Day in the USand has since designed thousands more.

Google celebrates the man known as the King of the Oud

Farid Al-Atrash, a Syrian musician and actor, would have celebrated his 110th birthday today