Asmahan
Encyclopedia
Amal al-Atrash better known by her stage name Asmahan ( ), was a Syria
n Druze
singer and actress. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, her family knew the composer Dawood Hosni, and she sang the compositions of Mohamed El Qasabgi
and Zakariyya Ahmad
. She also sang the compositions of Mohammed Abdel Wahab
and her brother Farid al-Atrash
, a then rising star musician in his own right. Hers was the only female voice in Arab music to pose serious competition to that of Umm Kulthum, who is considered to be one of the Arab world's most distinguished singers of the 20th century. Her mysterious death in an automobile accident shocked the public. Journalists spread gossip about her turbulent personal life and an alleged espionage role in World War II.
n Druze
from Suwayda
, and 'Alia al-Mundhir, a Lebanese
Druze from Hasbaya
. Her father came from the Druze al-Atrash clan
, well-known in Syria for its role in fighting against the French
occupation.
Asmahan's father is supposed to have served as governor of the district of Demirci
in Turkey
, during the last days of the Ottoman Empire
. Asmahan's father, fled the country with his children and pregnant wife. On November 18, 1912, they embarked on a ship from İzmir
to Beirut
, and Asmahan was born on board. She was named "Amal", meaning "hopes". She was also called "Emily", but always preferred the name "Amal". After the French came into power, the family went back to Jabal al-druze.
Following the Adham Khanjar incident
in 1923, the al-Atrash home in al-Qrayya (town in Jabal al-Druze) was bombed by French forces. 'Alia fled with her children to Damascus
. Despite orders from Fahd, 'Alia refused to return. Asmahan later recalled her childhood years in Jabal al-Druze as "untouched by anything truly bad". 'Alia and the three children travelled to Beirut
, but, after discovering that the French were searching for them there, they stopped in Haifa
in Palestine
, and traveled from there to Egypt.
, because 'Alia knew that Egypt's then nationalist prime minister Saad Zaghloul and her husband's relative, Sultan al-Atrash
were on corresponding terms. According to family accounts, 'Alia was permitted to enter Egypt under the sponsorship of Saad Zaghloul. Many other Syrians and Lebanese were present in Egypt in this period.
Asmahan and her family first lived in an apartment in a humble section of Cairo. Her mother did laundry and sewing to support the family. She had an excellent voice, could play the `ud, sang at parties and made some recordings. Asmahan and her brothers attended a French Catholic school. In order to receive waivers for the high cost of tuition, 'Alia registered them under the alias Kusah (meaning "zucchini") rather than trying to convince school officials that members of the wealthy al-Atrash family were destitute. 'Alia received a monthly stipend from a secret benefactor rumored to be "Baron" Crane (of the Crane commission) according to one Egyptian journalists. This allowed her to cover the costs of her children's school's tuition, and a nicer apartment on Habib Shalabi Street.
Amal's vocal talent was discovered at an early age. Once, when her brother Farid received one of Egypt's most famous composers, Dawood Hosni, in their home, the latter overheard her singing in her room, and insisted on seeing her immediately. He then asked her to sing again. He was much impressed by the performance, and suggested the stage name of Asmahan to her. Amal began using that name.
Asmahan rose to fame quickly: she was not even fourteen (or seventeen, since her birthdate is disputed) years old when she was introduced to the public at a concert at the prestigious Cairo Opera House
. She sang and recorded songs composed by Farid Ghosn, Dawood Hosni, Mohamed El Qasabgi, and Zakariyya Ahmad. At sixteen, Asmahan was asked by an Egyptian recording company to register her first album, featuring her first song "Ya Nar Fouadi" by Farid Ghosn.
A variety of teachers advanced her vocal and musical studies. Hosni volunteered to instruct Asmahan on how to play the oud
; Qasabgi comments however on the mature level of her sight reading and musicality by the time she performed his work, some years later. However, her brothers wanted her to marry and return to Syria. Her cousin, Hasan al-Atrash traveled to Egypt, intending to propose to a different relative, however, once he saw Asmahan, he pursued her and she returned for at least five and half years to Syria. So her musical career was interrupted.
Asmahan's older brother, Fuad, and other Druze relatives considered a career in entertainment for a girl to be disgraceful. For them, culturally, "Egypt was a planetary distance from the small villages of the Druze." and it was difficult for her relatives to accept Asmahan's integration into the heterogeneous Egyptian social scene. The clearly defined divisions, along religious lines, of the Syrian countryside did not operate in Egypt. During the period when she was married to her cousin, Hasan, and then later in 1941, when she remarried him and returned to Egypt her musical career came to a standstill. When the marriage first broke up, she left for Egypt immediately, even before she had obtained the bill of divorce. With her return to Egypt and a singing career, she finally repudiated "respectability", leaving both her relatives and Syrian Druze society furious. When her first film, Intisar al-Shabab, was released in Syria, one young Druze shot at the screen when the character played by Asmahan appeared. Asmahan, bi-national or, in contemporary parlance, trans-national by then, had become "a sophisticated foreigner to the young men in the Jabal Druze.."
In 1933 Asmahan's cousin, Hassan al-Atrash, came to Cairo and proposed marriage, requesting that Asmahan abandon her musical career. She agreed on three conditions: that they live in Damascus rather than Jabal al-Druze, winter in Cairo, and that she would never be required to wear the traditional hijab
. They married and moved first to al-Era, where the al-Atrash retain a large home, and then built their own home in Suwayda. Asmahan gave birth to her daughter, Kamellia. Eventually, Asmahan missed her career and her life in Cairo; and in 1939, she and Hassan were divorced. In her final confrontation with her cousin at Mena House
Hotel in Giza, she told him, "I stood with you for independence and liberation, I did. But, I was created for another purpose. I prefer the work of Farid, and the work of Umm Kulthum, and of art." Thus she returned to Cairo and resumed her singing career, and married the Egyptian director Ahmed Badrkhan, though they were to divorce soon after. In 1941 she returned to Syria in a dramatic and secret journey under the auspices of the British. Hasan agreed to meet with her and used to occasion to entreat her to remarry him. She twice attempted suicide in the period following when they were still married. According to the gossip-mongering journalists this was so that she could obtain a second divorce from Hasan; however it seemed he actually agreed due to her visits to Jerusalem where wild rumors attached to her behavior and overspending. Some claim that he placed snipers on the Palestinian-Syrian and Palestinian-Lebanese borders with orders to shoot and kill her if she were to try to re-enter either Syria or Lebanon (no citation provided for this claim) Her third and final marriage was to the Egyptian director Ahmed Salem. The purpose of that marriage was so that she could return to Egypt without difficulties which were said to have been raised by governmental authorities. It is not clear how that would occur, however, and she had an ongoing studio contract in Egypt.
In 1941, Asmahan met Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egypt's most distinguished singer and composer, and she starred with him in his operetta Magnun Layla (Besotted with Layla). It was Abdel Wahab who introduced her then to the journalist, Mohamed al-Taba'i. Al-Taba'i suggests that she was in love with him, but the tone of his writing indicates that he was in love with her, but did not respect her. He suggests she had affairs or at least an ongoing relationship with the royal chamberlain Ahmed Pasha Hassanein
but this might be exaggerated. Her brothers, Fuad and Farid, were no longer able to monitor her movements Her brother was a noted gambler; she and her friends also partied, smoked, drank and gambled. She became very ill for a period, but recordings show that her voice did not suffer.
Asmahan was proud of her family background, and always mentioned her father and his cousin, Sultan al-Atrash, to clarify her ancestry — once saying to al-Taba'i, after he had just insulted her, "Don't you know who I am? Why I am the daughter of Fahd al-Atrash and cousin to the Amir al-Atrash and the Druze revolutionary hero Sultan al-Atrash, and then you, who amount to no one, come here and insult me?" Al-Taba'i laughed and replied to her that her cousin, the proclaimed Amir, amounted to no more than an alley chief" (شيخ الحارة) in Egypt. Al-Taba'i never traveled to Syria, and was unfamiliar and uninterested in the political situation in that country. Al-Taba'i argued that, because she suffered from a chronic "inferiority complex", Asmahan herself propagated these mystifications when referring to her family background. In fact, Sultan al-Atrash was a hero in Syria, and exiled for his role in the revolution and Asmahan's family were the elite Druze clan of that particular area. An al-Atrash was appointed "amir" by the French and Hasan inherited that title, but more importantly served in two governmental administrations, in one of them as Minister of Defense. Asmahan was not a first cousin of Hasan's, but referred to him as "ibn `ammi" to the Egyptians, in fact, she was his second cousin, twice removed (by generation).
Known for her wide vocal range, Asmahan's included the contralto and dramatic mezzo-soprano range (as one can hear in her rendition of "Ya Tuyur" where she reaches a high A with ease and brio. Asmahan's voice has been compared to Fairuz and Sabah however, as she began her career more than two decades earlier, she had not in fact, adopted the Italian singing technique known as bel canto, but rather learned singing from many admirable models of her own period and in Egypt where a much more diverse group of singers performed, and at a time when Arabic singing utilized both nasal and chest resonance.
Asmahan's voice was powerful, but also agile. She generally sang in her chest register but could use her head register and sing in a very controlled tone. It is not incorrect to say that she was the first or one of the first Arabic singers to use the classical western technique, also very few performers are able to alternate two different styles of interpretation and technique in one song (western and tarab). (Zuhur)
Some say that the musical mode, known as Nahawand, was depicted in the vocal abilities of Asmahan.
, Asmahan returned to the French Mandate of Syria
(Syria, under the rule of Vichy France
at that time) at the request of the British and the Free French. She was on a secret mission to notify her people in Jabal al-Druze that the British
and Free French forces
would be invading Syria
through their territory, and to convince them they should not fight. (Zuhur) The British and Free French had promised the independence of Syria and Lebanon to all inhabitants on the date of the invasion. The Druze
agreed, even though some groups did not receive word in time and fought the invading forces. After the Allies secured Syria
during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign
, General Charles de Gaulle
visited Syria. When the Allies failed to carry out their promise for Syrian independence, Asmahan tried to contact the Nazis
in Turkey, but was stopped at the border and sent to Lebanon. It was also possible that Asmhan needed money because her husband had cut off her expenses, so she may have tried to reach the Germans simply to obtain funds. (Zuhur)
Asmahan told Mohamed al-Tabaʿi that she was to receive the sum of £40,000 from the British for her services to the allies. General Charles de Gaulle
’s representative in Cairo was General Georges Catroux
. Catroux's délégué in Damascus, Colonel Collet, stated that the British gave money to Asmahan (and to other Druze men, in his presence) and sent her to the Jabal to secure the support of the Druze before the Allies' invasion. The same information is stated by Edward Spears in his memoirs. (Zuhur)
These circumstances gave rise to many suspicions, rumors and conspiracy theories. British intelligence, for example, after many reports circulated claiming she had been working for them, was accused of having got rid of her after she had attempted to meet with German agents. The German Gestapo
was also accused of murdering her for the help she had given the British. Her husband at the time had fought violently with her, and her family's honor had been besmirched by the many rumors.
Asmahan was buried in Egypt in accordance with her wishes as, years later, were her two brothers, Fuad and Farid al-Atrash, in the Fustat plain in Cairo, which she and brother Farid, along with Egyptian crooner Abdel Halim Hafez
, had restored to some of its former glory.
and a private investor jointly produced a television series depicting the life (and death) of Asmahan. The Arabic series debuted during the month of Ramadan in 2008. Asmahan was played by Syrian actress Sulaf Fawakherji
.
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
singer and actress. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, her family knew the composer Dawood Hosni, and she sang the compositions of Mohamed El Qasabgi
Mohamed El Qasabgi
Mohamed el-Qasabgi was an Egyptian musician and composer, and is regarded as one of the five leading composers of Egypt in the 20th century. Most of his credits went to Umm Kulthum, Asmahan, and Layla Murad who sang most of his great works and scores...
and Zakariyya Ahmad
Zakariyya Ahmad
Zakariyya Ahmad was an Egyptian musician and composer. He composed many pieces in a traditional Egyptian folk style. His works include solo pieces and film scores, and he composed for Umm Kulthum beginning with a taqtuqa written in 1925.His father was Egyptian and his mother was Turkish.-External...
. She also sang the compositions of Mohammed Abdel Wahab
Mohammed Abdel Wahab
Mohammed Abdel Wahab , also transliterated Mohammed Abd el-Wahaab was a prominent 20th-century Arab Egyptian singer and composer...
and her brother Farid al-Atrash
Farid al-Atrash
Farid al-Atrash, or in French spelling Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, Farid embarked on a highly successful career spanning more than four decades — recording 500 songs and starring in 31 movies...
, a then rising star musician in his own right. Hers was the only female voice in Arab music to pose serious competition to that of Umm Kulthum, who is considered to be one of the Arab world's most distinguished singers of the 20th century. Her mysterious death in an automobile accident shocked the public. Journalists spread gossip about her turbulent personal life and an alleged espionage role in World War II.
Early life
Asmahan was born to Fahd al-Atrash, a SyriaSyria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
from Suwayda
As-Suwayda
As Suwayda , also spelt Sweida, is a mainly Druze city located in southwestern Syria, close to the border with Jordan.It is the capital of Muhafazat as Suwayda, one of Syria's 14 governorates, bordering Jordan in the South and the governorates of Daraa in the West and Rif Dimashq in the North and...
, and 'Alia al-Mundhir, a Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
Druze from Hasbaya
Hasbaya
Hasbeya or Hasbeiya is a town in Lebanon, situated about 36 miles to the west of Damascus, at the foot of Mount Hermon, overlooking a deep amphitheatre from which a brook flows to the Hasbani. In 1911, the population was about 5000....
. Her father came from the Druze al-Atrash clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
, well-known in Syria for its role in fighting against the French
French Mandate of Syria
Officially the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
occupation.
Asmahan's father is supposed to have served as governor of the district of Demirci
Demirci
Demirci is a town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. According to the 2000 census, population of the district is 59,314 of which 21,230 live in the town of Demirci. The district covers an area of , and the town lies at an elevation of .-Economy:Demirci is one of the...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, during the last days of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Asmahan's father, fled the country with his children and pregnant wife. On November 18, 1912, they embarked on a ship from İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, and Asmahan was born on board. She was named "Amal", meaning "hopes". She was also called "Emily", but always preferred the name "Amal". After the French came into power, the family went back to Jabal al-druze.
Following the Adham Khanjar incident
Adham Khanjar
Adham Khanjar is a Lebanese Shia rebel who participated in an attempt to assassinate General Gouraud, the French High Commissioner in Syria and Lebanon.-Assassination Attempt:Khanjar joined a guerrilla band led by famous Syrian rebel Ahmed Mreywed...
in 1923, the al-Atrash home in al-Qrayya (town in Jabal al-Druze) was bombed by French forces. 'Alia fled with her children to Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
. Despite orders from Fahd, 'Alia refused to return. Asmahan later recalled her childhood years in Jabal al-Druze as "untouched by anything truly bad". 'Alia and the three children travelled to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, but, after discovering that the French were searching for them there, they stopped in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, and traveled from there to Egypt.
Immigration to Egypt
'Alia chose to immigrate to CairoCairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, because 'Alia knew that Egypt's then nationalist prime minister Saad Zaghloul and her husband's relative, Sultan al-Atrash
Sultan al-Atrash
Sultan al-Atrash, Commonly known as Sultan Pasha al-Atrash was a prominent Arab Druze leader, Syrian nationalist and Commander General of the Syrian Revolution . He fought against the Ottomans, French, and even against the Syrian government in its days of dictatorship...
were on corresponding terms. According to family accounts, 'Alia was permitted to enter Egypt under the sponsorship of Saad Zaghloul. Many other Syrians and Lebanese were present in Egypt in this period.
Asmahan and her family first lived in an apartment in a humble section of Cairo. Her mother did laundry and sewing to support the family. She had an excellent voice, could play the `ud, sang at parties and made some recordings. Asmahan and her brothers attended a French Catholic school. In order to receive waivers for the high cost of tuition, 'Alia registered them under the alias Kusah (meaning "zucchini") rather than trying to convince school officials that members of the wealthy al-Atrash family were destitute. 'Alia received a monthly stipend from a secret benefactor rumored to be "Baron" Crane (of the Crane commission) according to one Egyptian journalists. This allowed her to cover the costs of her children's school's tuition, and a nicer apartment on Habib Shalabi Street.
Musical debut
Asmahan rose to fame quickly: she was not even fourteen (or seventeen, since her birthdate is disputed) years old when she was introduced to the public at a concert at the prestigious Cairo Opera House
Cairo Opera House
The Cairo Opera House , part of Cairo's National Cultural Center, is the main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital. Home to most of Egypt's finest musical groups, it is located on the southern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River, in the Zamalek district west of and near downtown...
. She sang and recorded songs composed by Farid Ghosn, Dawood Hosni, Mohamed El Qasabgi, and Zakariyya Ahmad. At sixteen, Asmahan was asked by an Egyptian recording company to register her first album, featuring her first song "Ya Nar Fouadi" by Farid Ghosn.
A variety of teachers advanced her vocal and musical studies. Hosni volunteered to instruct Asmahan on how to play the oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
; Qasabgi comments however on the mature level of her sight reading and musicality by the time she performed his work, some years later. However, her brothers wanted her to marry and return to Syria. Her cousin, Hasan al-Atrash traveled to Egypt, intending to propose to a different relative, however, once he saw Asmahan, he pursued her and she returned for at least five and half years to Syria. So her musical career was interrupted.
Egypt's influence
Since Asmahan sang in Egypt, the lyrics of her songs were written in classical Arabic and in a more colloquial Arabic, but she also sang in the Eastern dialect of Arabic. Asmahan was particularly fond of performing songs by Umm Kulthoum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab. When asked to sing about cultural patriotism and love, she sang of Egypt." Since singers and studios depended on the elites, Asmahan had to sing songs on uplifting nationalist themes or in praise of the Egyptian royal family. At the beginning of her career she sang in the nightclub owned by Mary Mansour.Asmahan's older brother, Fuad, and other Druze relatives considered a career in entertainment for a girl to be disgraceful. For them, culturally, "Egypt was a planetary distance from the small villages of the Druze." and it was difficult for her relatives to accept Asmahan's integration into the heterogeneous Egyptian social scene. The clearly defined divisions, along religious lines, of the Syrian countryside did not operate in Egypt. During the period when she was married to her cousin, Hasan, and then later in 1941, when she remarried him and returned to Egypt her musical career came to a standstill. When the marriage first broke up, she left for Egypt immediately, even before she had obtained the bill of divorce. With her return to Egypt and a singing career, she finally repudiated "respectability", leaving both her relatives and Syrian Druze society furious. When her first film, Intisar al-Shabab, was released in Syria, one young Druze shot at the screen when the character played by Asmahan appeared. Asmahan, bi-national or, in contemporary parlance, trans-national by then, had become "a sophisticated foreigner to the young men in the Jabal Druze.."
Personal life
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
. They married and moved first to al-Era, where the al-Atrash retain a large home, and then built their own home in Suwayda. Asmahan gave birth to her daughter, Kamellia. Eventually, Asmahan missed her career and her life in Cairo; and in 1939, she and Hassan were divorced. In her final confrontation with her cousin at Mena House
Mena House Oberoi
The Mena House Oberoi is a luxurious hotel and resort located just outside of Cairo, Egypt and lies at the foot of the famous Pyramid of Cheops. This five star getaway is owned and operated by the Oberoi Group hotel chain...
Hotel in Giza, she told him, "I stood with you for independence and liberation, I did. But, I was created for another purpose. I prefer the work of Farid, and the work of Umm Kulthum, and of art." Thus she returned to Cairo and resumed her singing career, and married the Egyptian director Ahmed Badrkhan, though they were to divorce soon after. In 1941 she returned to Syria in a dramatic and secret journey under the auspices of the British. Hasan agreed to meet with her and used to occasion to entreat her to remarry him. She twice attempted suicide in the period following when they were still married. According to the gossip-mongering journalists this was so that she could obtain a second divorce from Hasan; however it seemed he actually agreed due to her visits to Jerusalem where wild rumors attached to her behavior and overspending. Some claim that he placed snipers on the Palestinian-Syrian and Palestinian-Lebanese borders with orders to shoot and kill her if she were to try to re-enter either Syria or Lebanon (no citation provided for this claim) Her third and final marriage was to the Egyptian director Ahmed Salem. The purpose of that marriage was so that she could return to Egypt without difficulties which were said to have been raised by governmental authorities. It is not clear how that would occur, however, and she had an ongoing studio contract in Egypt.
In 1941, Asmahan met Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egypt's most distinguished singer and composer, and she starred with him in his operetta Magnun Layla (Besotted with Layla). It was Abdel Wahab who introduced her then to the journalist, Mohamed al-Taba'i. Al-Taba'i suggests that she was in love with him, but the tone of his writing indicates that he was in love with her, but did not respect her. He suggests she had affairs or at least an ongoing relationship with the royal chamberlain Ahmed Pasha Hassanein
Ahmed Hassanein
Ahmed Hassanein Pasha, KCVO, MBE or Aḥmad Moḥammad Makhlūf Ḥasanēn al-Būlākī was an Oxford-educated Egyptian courtier, diplomat, Olympic athlete in fencing, photographer, writer, politician, explorer and tutor to King Farouk.Ahmed Hassanein was one of the most influential figures in Egyptian...
but this might be exaggerated. Her brothers, Fuad and Farid, were no longer able to monitor her movements Her brother was a noted gambler; she and her friends also partied, smoked, drank and gambled. She became very ill for a period, but recordings show that her voice did not suffer.
Asmahan was proud of her family background, and always mentioned her father and his cousin, Sultan al-Atrash, to clarify her ancestry — once saying to al-Taba'i, after he had just insulted her, "Don't you know who I am? Why I am the daughter of Fahd al-Atrash and cousin to the Amir al-Atrash and the Druze revolutionary hero Sultan al-Atrash, and then you, who amount to no one, come here and insult me?" Al-Taba'i laughed and replied to her that her cousin, the proclaimed Amir, amounted to no more than an alley chief" (شيخ الحارة) in Egypt. Al-Taba'i never traveled to Syria, and was unfamiliar and uninterested in the political situation in that country. Al-Taba'i argued that, because she suffered from a chronic "inferiority complex", Asmahan herself propagated these mystifications when referring to her family background. In fact, Sultan al-Atrash was a hero in Syria, and exiled for his role in the revolution and Asmahan's family were the elite Druze clan of that particular area. An al-Atrash was appointed "amir" by the French and Hasan inherited that title, but more importantly served in two governmental administrations, in one of them as Minister of Defense. Asmahan was not a first cousin of Hasan's, but referred to him as "ibn `ammi" to the Egyptians, in fact, she was his second cousin, twice removed (by generation).
Vocal characteristics
Asmahan's voice was powerful, but also agile. She generally sang in her chest register but could use her head register and sing in a very controlled tone. It is not incorrect to say that she was the first or one of the first Arabic singers to use the classical western technique, also very few performers are able to alternate two different styles of interpretation and technique in one song (western and tarab). (Zuhur)
Some say that the musical mode, known as Nahawand, was depicted in the vocal abilities of Asmahan.
Role in World War II
In 1941, during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Asmahan returned to the French Mandate of Syria
French Mandate of Syria
Officially the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
(Syria, under the rule of Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
at that time) at the request of the British and the Free French. She was on a secret mission to notify her people in Jabal al-Druze that the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Free French forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
would be invading Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
through their territory, and to convince them they should not fight. (Zuhur) The British and Free French had promised the independence of Syria and Lebanon to all inhabitants on the date of the invasion. The Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
agreed, even though some groups did not receive word in time and fought the invading forces. After the Allies secured Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign
Syria-Lebanon campaign
The Syria–Lebanon campaign, also known as Operation Exporter, was the Allied invasion of Vichy French-controlled Syria and Lebanon, in June–July 1941, during World War II. Time Magazine referred to the fighting as a "mixed show" while it was taking place and the campaign remains little known, even...
, General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
visited Syria. When the Allies failed to carry out their promise for Syrian independence, Asmahan tried to contact the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in Turkey, but was stopped at the border and sent to Lebanon. It was also possible that Asmhan needed money because her husband had cut off her expenses, so she may have tried to reach the Germans simply to obtain funds. (Zuhur)
Asmahan told Mohamed al-Tabaʿi that she was to receive the sum of £40,000 from the British for her services to the allies. General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
’s representative in Cairo was General Georges Catroux
Georges Catroux
Georges Catroux was a French Army general and diplomat who served in both World War I and World War II, and served as Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969.-Biography:...
. Catroux's délégué in Damascus, Colonel Collet, stated that the British gave money to Asmahan (and to other Druze men, in his presence) and sent her to the Jabal to secure the support of the Druze before the Allies' invasion. The same information is stated by Edward Spears in his memoirs. (Zuhur)
Death
On 14 July 1944, a car carrying Asmahan and a female friend crashed and went into a canal at the side of the road, after the driver lost control near the city of Mansoura, Egypt. The car was a two-door model and the women were sitting in the backseat. They were presumed to be rendered unconscious and subsequently drowned. The driver, however, managed to escape.These circumstances gave rise to many suspicions, rumors and conspiracy theories. British intelligence, for example, after many reports circulated claiming she had been working for them, was accused of having got rid of her after she had attempted to meet with German agents. The German Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
was also accused of murdering her for the help she had given the British. Her husband at the time had fought violently with her, and her family's honor had been besmirched by the many rumors.
Asmahan was buried in Egypt in accordance with her wishes as, years later, were her two brothers, Fuad and Farid al-Atrash, in the Fustat plain in Cairo, which she and brother Farid, along with Egyptian crooner Abdel Halim Hafez
Abdel Halim Hafez
Abdel Halim Ali Shabana commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez , is among the most popular Egyptian and Arab singers and performers. In addition to singing, Halim was also an actor, conductor, business man, music teacher and movie producer...
, had restored to some of its former glory.
Legacy
The Egyptian Media Production CityEgyptian Media Production City
Egyptian Media Production City is an information and media complex located near Cairo in Egypt.it covers an area of about 35 million square meters .-History:...
and a private investor jointly produced a television series depicting the life (and death) of Asmahan. The Arabic series debuted during the month of Ramadan in 2008. Asmahan was played by Syrian actress Sulaf Fawakherji
Sulaf Fawakherji
Sulaf Fawakherji is a prominent Syrian film and TV actress. She has played many roles on Syrian soap operas. Fawakherji studied art and sculpture at Adham Ismail Fine Arts Institute before starring on stage in plays including Al-Sawt and Hekayat al-Shetaa...
.
Discography
- Eedy fi Eedak
- Shorouq we Ghoroub
- al-Khitam Operette (from the movie Intisar Al Shabab)
- al-Layl
- as-Shams Ghabat Anwarha
- ad-Denya fi Eedy
- al-Osra al-Alaweyya Anthem (from the movie Gharam wa Intiqam)
- Aamel Eah Ashan Ansak?
- Ana Bent al-Layl
- Ghayra Magd Poem
- Hadaytak Alby
- Adhaby fi Hawak Ardaah
- Hal Tayyem al-Ban
- Isqineeha bi Aby Anta wa Ommy
- Ahwa
- Emta Hatearaf?
- Ana elly Astahel
- Ayna al-Layaly?
- Ayyuha Anna'em
- Hadeath Aynayn
- Dakhalt Marra fi Genenah
- Regeaat Lak
- Aahedny ya Alby
- Alek Salat Allah we Salamoh
- Farraq ma Benna az-Zamaan
- Fi yom Mashoofak
- Magnoon Layla
- Kan li Amal
- Kelma ya Nour al-Ain
- Konty al-Amany
- Layaly al-Ons fi Vienna
- Layta lel-Bouraq Ayna
- Mahlaha Eishet al-Fallah
- Nawayt Adary Aalaamy
- al-Ward
- Ya Habibi Allah
- Ya Dirati
- Ya Toyour (or Taghreed al-Balabel)
- Yally Hawak
- Ya Layali al-Bishr
- Ya Naar Fouadi
Filmography
- Intissar al-Shabab (Triumph of the Youth), 1941
- Gharam wa Intiqam (Love and Revenge), 1944
External links
- Asmahan Fan site
- Introduction to Asmahan's Secrets, a biography (ISBN 978-0-292-79807-6)
- Partial preview of Asmahan's Secrets
- Asmahan performs Layaly al-Ons fi Vienna