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{{short description|Syrian-singer (1912-1944)}}
{{Infobox musical artist {{Infobox musical artist
| name = Asmahan<br/>{{nobold|{{lang|ar|أسمهان}}}}
|Name = Asmahan
|Img = Asmahan photo.jpg | image = Asmahan photo.jpg
| image_size =
|Img_capt = Asmahan
| caption = Asmahan
|Img_size = 250
| birth_name = Amal al-Atrash<br/>{{lang|ar|آمال الأطرش}}
|Background = solo_singer
| alias =
|Birth_name = Amal al-Atrash
| birth_date = November 25, 1912
|Alias =
| birth_place =
|Born = {{Birth date|1918|11|18|df=yes}} ]
|Died = {{Death date and age|1944|7|14|1918|10|26|df=yes}}<br/>], ] | death_date = {{death date and age|1944|7|14|1912|11|25}}
| death_place = ], ]
|Origin =
| genre = ]
|Instrument =
| occupation = ], ]
|Genre = ] (])
| instrument =
|Occupation = ], ]
| years_active = 1931–1944
|Years_active =
| label =
|Label =
| past_member_of = ]
|Associated_acts =
| website =
|URL =
|Current_members =
|Past_members =
}} }}


'''Amal al-Atrash''' ({{langx|ar|آمال الأطرش}} ''{{transl|ar|ALA|Āmāl al-Aṭrash}}'', <small> ]</small> {{IPA|ar|(ʔ)æːmæːl lˈ(ʔ)ætˤrɑʃ}}; November 25, 1912 – July 14, 1944),<ref name="al-mada"> {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130111235017/http://almadapaper.net/paper.php?source=akbar&mlf=interpage&sid=64405 |date=2013-01-11 }}, ''Al-Mada''</ref> better known by her stage name '''Asmahan''' ({{lang|ar|أسمهان}}, {{IPA|ar|ʔasmahaːn}} ''{{transl|ar|ALA|Asmahān}}''), was a Syrian ].<ref name="Swayd2015">{{cite book|author=Samy Swayd|title=Historical Dictionary of the Druzes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eL0qBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57|date=10 March 2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-4617-1|page=57}}</ref>
'''Asmahan''' ({{lang-ar|<big>أسمهان</big>}} ''{{transl|ar|Asmahān}}''; '''Amal al-Atrash'''; 18 November 1918 at ] &ndash; 14 July 1944 in ], ])<ref> al-Mada, "وشاءت لها الاقدار أن ترحل في الماء أيضا في حادث غامض في ترعة طلخا على نهر النيل قرب مدينة المنصورة يوم 14- 7 - 1944"</ref> was a ]n-]<ref name="alquds.co.uk">], "وحصلت الأسرة علي الجنسية المصرية وظلت تنعم بها ومنهم اسمهان بالطبع"]</ref> singer and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, she became the apprentice of Egyptian classical music pioneers, ], ] and ].<ref name="lebarmy.gov.lb"></ref><ref>Al-Atrash, Majid (2005), Asmahan: Amirat at-tarab was-saif wan-nada (Asmahan: The princess of music, war and grace) Al-'Adyat magazine, p.75-77, in Arabic</ref> She also sang the compositions of ] and her brother ], a then rising star musician in his own right. Hers was the only voice in Arab music to ever pose a serious competition to that of ],<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=85}}</ref> considered to be the Arab world's most distinguished singer of the 20th century.<ref></ref> Her mysterious, untimely death by drowning at the age of twenty-six drew speculations about tribulations in her personal life and an espionage role in World War II.


Having immigrated to Egypt at the age of three years old from Syria, her family knew the composer ], and she sang the compositions of ] and ].<ref name="lebarmy.gov.lb">{{cite web|url=http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/article.asp?ln=ar&id=8358|title=Lebanese Army Journal, Issue Number 241, July 2005|access-date=5 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111224421/http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/article.asp?ln=ar&id=8358|archive-date=2013-11-11|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>al-Atrash, Majid (2005), Asmahan: Amirat at-tarab was-saif wan-nada (Asmahan: The princess of music, war and grace) al-'Adyat magazine, p.75–77, in Arabic</ref> She also sang the compositions of ] and her brother ], a then rising star musician in his own right. Her voice was one of the few female voices in Arab music world to pose serious competition to that of ],<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=85}}</ref> who is considered to be one of the ]'s most distinguished singers of the 20th century.<ref></ref> Her mysterious death in an automobile accident shocked the public. Journalists spread gossip about her turbulent personal life and an alleged ] role in ].
==Early life==
Asmahan was born to Fahd al-Atrash, a Syrian ] from ], and 'Alia al-Mundhir, a ] Druze from ].<ref name="Enchantment 81"/> Her father—who came from the Druze ] clan, well-known in Syria for its role in fighting against the ] occupation<ref>{{cite book|last=Provence|first=Michael |title=The great Syrian revolt and the rise of Arab nationalism|publisher=University of Texas Press|date=2005|edition=illustrated|pages=72|isbn=9780292706804|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ej8ZMk1822sC&pg=PA72&dq=sultan+al+atrash}}</ref>—was married twice and had two children before marrying 'Alia.<ref name="Enchantment 81">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|p=81}}</ref> 'Alia played a big part in her children's musical upbringing, being a singer and ] player. Asmahan's brother, ], was also a musician, singer and oud player; he composed several of her songs.<ref name="Enchantment 83">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|p=83}}</ref> She also had an older brother, Fuad, and a sister and brother, Widad and Anwar who both had died at a very young age.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=29}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=38}}</ref>


== Early life ==
In October 1918, during ], as the ] were advancing against the ] in the ]s, Asmahan's father feared being attacked by ] Allied troops, due to his post as the Ottoman-appointed governor of ]. Thus, upon being warned of the arrival of Greek troops, he fled to ] with his two sons and his pregnant wife.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=24-25}}</ref> From Izmir, they boarded a boat to ]. On November 23<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=25}}</ref>, while still on the trip, Asmahan was born. Fahd suggested naming her "Bahriyya" (meaning "of the sea" in Arabic), but her mother objected and decided to name her "Amal", meaning "hope".<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=25-26}}</ref> Fahd later worked as a judge in Suwayda.<ref name="Enchantment 81"/>
Asmahan was born to Fahd al-Atrash, a ]n ] from ], and 'Alia al-Mundhir, a ] Druze from ]. Her father came from the Druze ] clan, well known in Syria for its role in fighting against the ] occupation.<ref>{{Citation|last=Provence|first=Michael |title=The great Syrian revolt and the rise of Arab nationalism|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2005|edition=illustrated|pages=72|isbn=978-0-292-70680-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ej8ZMk1822sC&q=sultan+al+atrash&pg=PA72}}</ref>


Asmahan's father supposedly served as governor of the district of ] in ], during the last days of the ], when he fled the country with his children and pregnant wife. On 25 November 1912, they embarked on a ship from ] to ], and Asmahan was born on board. She was named "Amal", meaning "hope". She was also called "Emily", but always preferred the name "Amal". After the French came into power, the family returned to ].<ref name="Enchantment 83">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|p=81}}</ref>
Following the 1922 ], fighting between French and Syrian forces erupted in the ]. During the hostilities, the French shelled the al-Atrash home in the town of al-Qrayya, near Suwayda. Due to the conflict 'Alia fled with her children for ] and refused to return. Fahd sent his cousin Salim al-Atrash to return her and their children to the Jabal, but 'Alia refused to come back, stating Fahd would be cursed for the deaths of their children, who might be killed in the fighting there.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=37-38}}</ref> Asmahan later recalled her childhood years in the Jabal as "untouched by anything truly bad".<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=36}}</ref>

Following the ] in 1922, the al-Atrash home in ] (a town in ]) was bombed by French forces. 'Alia fled with her children to ] and, despite orders from Fahd, refused to return.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=38}}</ref> Asmahan later recalled her childhood years in Jabal al-Druze as "untouched by anything truly bad".<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=36}}</ref> 'Alia and the three children travelled to ], but, after discovering that the French were searching for them there, they stopped in ] in ], and travelled from there to Egypt, where she sought political asylum for herself and her three children; they were later granted the right of political asylum in 1926 by the ], thus naturalized as Egyptian citizens.<ref name="Zuhur 2000 p=38-39">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=38–39}}</ref>


===Immigration to Egypt=== ===Immigration to Egypt===
] ]
'Alia chose to immigrate to ], because she knew that Egypt's then ] prime minister ] and her husband's relative, ] were on corresponding terms.<ref name="Zuhur 2000 p=38-39"/><ref>{{YouTube|WoFmMGNOxLs|Interview with Fuad al-Atrash. Time 4:34.}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=39}}</ref> According to family accounts, 'Alia was permitted to enter ] 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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=41}}</ref> She had an excellent voice, could play the ], 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 "courgette") rather than trying to convince school officials that members of the wealthy{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} al-Atrash family were destitute.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=41, 53}}</ref> 'Alia received a monthly stipend from a secret benefactor rumored to be ] (of the ]) according to one Egyptian journalist. This allowed her to cover the costs of her children's school's tuition, and a nicer apartment on Habib Shalabi Street.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=42, 44}}</ref>
'Alia and her children moved on to ], but after being alerted that she might be arrested by the French to force a ceasefire in the Jabal, she drove south with her children, Fuad, Farid, and Amal al-Atrash, to ], ]. There, on Fuad's advice, she sold the car and they boarded a train toward Egypt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=39}}</ref> 'Alia chose to escape to Egypt because it was under British, as opposed to French Mandate, and she knew of a written correspondence relationship between ] and Egypt's ] prime minister ], each fighting colonial occupation on his respective turf.<ref></ref> At the immigration check-point in ], they were confronted by Egyptian immigration officials for not possessing any passports. 'Alia asked a border official to call Zaghloul and to tell him that 'Alia al-Mundhir al-Atrash, from the House of Sultan al-Atrash, was requesting his sponsorship. Zaghloul personally came online and agreed to sponsor the family into Egypt,<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=39}}</ref> where the migrant family were later naturalized as citizens.<ref name="alquds.co.uk"/>


==Career==
She and her children hid under a pseudonym, ''Kusa'' (meaning "zucchini"), fearing French action against the al-Atrash family in Egypt.<ref name="secrets 53">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=53}}</ref> 'Alia started to take laundry, sew, sing at private parties, and record songs to support herself and her children. This gave her musical connections which she used to provide Farid and Amal professional musical training.<ref name="Enchantment 81"/> 'Alia's husband threatened to divorce her if she did not return to Syria. 'Alia refused and was therefore divorced. Her husband later remarried.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}


==Career==
===Musical debut=== ===Musical debut===
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's musical talents were discovered by the renowned Egyptian composer Dawood Hosni on visiting her brother Farid. He happened to hear Amal singing while she was in her room, so he demanded to see her immediately and asked her to sing again. Amal sang one more time and Hosni was very impressed and pleased. After Amal finished her singing, he told her she reminded him of a musical student he once had, who possessed a beautiful voice but died at a very young age before knowing the fame she deserved. He proposed that student’s name, Asmahan, as a stage name for Amal, and Amal henceforth became Asmahan.<ref name="Images of Enchantment. p. 82"/>


Asmahan's rise to fame was quick; she was not even fourteen years old when she was presented at the prestigious Cairo Opera House, in a concert setting, on the Columbia Records label,<ref name="Images of Enchantment. p. 82"/><ref></ref> and she performed songs composed by her mentors<ref name="lebarmy.gov.lb"/>, composers Farid Ghosn, Dawood Hosni, Mohamed El Qasabgi and Zakariyya Ahmad. Her mentors gave her vocal training and music lessons. Hosni volunteered to teach Asmahan to play Oud; Qasabgi volunteered to teach her the ''maqams'' and how to transition between them; and Ahmad volunteered to teach her the principles of enunciation and singing.<ref name="lebarmy.gov.lb"/> With their help, she was offered a contract with Columbia Records.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 54"/> At the age of sixteen, Asmahan was solicited by Columbia Records in Egypt to register her first album which featured her first song “Ya Nar Fouadi” by Farid Ghosn. Asmahan chose to drop out of school, but she had already joined one of the most prestigious music academies in Egypt. Asmahan rose to fame quickly: she was not even fourteen (or seventeen, since her birth date is disputed) years old when she was introduced to the public at a concert at the prestigious ].<ref name="Images of Enchantment. p. 82"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exzuhasp.html|title=University of Texas Press|access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref> She sang and recorded songs composed by Farid Ghosn, Dawood Hosni, Mohamed El Qasabgi, and Zakariyya Ahmad. At fourteen, Asmahan was invited by an Egyptian record company to make 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 ]; 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, Hassan al-Atrash travelled to Egypt, bringing with him a different cousin interested in Asmahan, however, once Hassan, who had already married five times, saw Asmahan, he pursued her and she returned to Syria for at least four years, interrupting her musical career.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
To help support her mother and family<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 216"/>, she featured in the private celebrations of Egyptian elite and at Mary Mansour's night club alongside her brother Farid, though she hated these venues due to the demands of the audiences.<ref name="Images of Enchantment. p. 82"/>


===Egypt's influence=== ===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 said to have preciously replicated songs by ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Al-Taba'i|2008|p=82}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Al-Taba'i|2008|p=26}}</ref> When asked to sing about cultural patriotism and love, she sang of Egypt."<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 216">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=216}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Zuhur 2000 p=13">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=13}}</ref> At the beginning of her career she sang in the nightclub owned by Mary Mansour, Sala Masriyya.
]
Asmahan's older brother, Fuad, and other Druze relatives considered a career in entertainment for a girl to be disgraceful.<ref name="Images of Enchantment. p. 82">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|p=82}}</ref> It was difficult for Asmahan's relatives to imagine a daughter, niece, or cousin feeling at home in the burgeoning, heterogeneous Egyptian social scene. The clearly-defined divisions, along religious lines, of the Syrian countryside did not operate in Egypt. During two bouts of marriage to her cousin and moving back to Syria, Asmahan's musical career would come to a complete halt, and when she ultimately rejected a return to "respectability" on her relatives’ terms, by returning to Egypt and her singing career, Asmahan was reviled by her relatives and Syrian society. 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.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 98">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=98}}</ref>


Asmahan's older brother, Fuad, and other Druze relatives considered a career in entertainment for a girl to be disgraceful.<ref name="Images of Enchantment. p. 82">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|p=82}}</ref> For them, culturally, "Egypt was a planetary distance from the small villages of the Druze."<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 54">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=54}}</ref> 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, Hassan, 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.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 98"/> With her return to Egypt and a singing career, she finally repudiated "respectability" by appearing onscreen (she had not appeared in "Layla Majun" but her voice is featured) 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.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 98">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=98}}</ref> Asmahan, bi-national or, in contemporary parlance, trans-national by then, had become "a sophisticated ''foreigner'' to the young men in the Jabal Druze."<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=95}}</ref>
Asmahan sang almost exclusively in the Egyptian Arabic dialect.<ref></ref> When Asmahan was asked to sing of cultural patriotism and love, she sang of Egypt.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 216"/> The dependence on the Egyptian elite forced Asmahan and other singers to sing praising songs for the king and of national themes.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 13">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=13}}</ref>Culturally, Egypt was a planetary distance from the small villages of the Druze.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 54">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=54}}</ref> Asmahan grew so accustomed to cosmopolitan<ref>Rodenbeck, Max (1999) Cairo: The City Victorious. Alfred Knoff Publisher. New York</ref> life in Cairo that she would long for it, and would make "spending her winters in Cairo" one of her conditions to marrying her Druze cousin.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=64}}</ref> Asmahan was regarded as "a sophisticated foreigner, a binational, or a trans-national" by her own clan,<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=95}}</ref> and when the marriage to her cousin failed, she returned immediately to Egypt, before she had divorce documents in hand.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 98"/>


==Personal life==
According to author ], Asmahan was proud of her background and she put her career to the side when she thought her help was needed by her people.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 13"/> She always mentioned her father and Sultan al-Atrash to clarify her ancestry—once saying to a friend: "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."<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 37">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=37}}</ref> Asmahan's quest for her own happiness may indeed have been more strongly motivated than the patriotism to her clan.<ref name="Asmahan's Secrets. p. 216">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=216}}</ref> In her final confrontation with her cousin at ] 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." He would divorce her immediately.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=99}}</ref>
]
In 1933, Asmahan's cousin, Hassan al-Atrash, came to Cairo and proposed marriage, requesting that Asmahan abandon her musical career.<ref>{{Harvnb|Al-Taba'i|2008|p=51}}</ref> She agreed on three conditions: that they live in Damascus rather than ], winter in Cairo, and that she would never be required to wear the traditional ].<ref name="Zuhur 2000">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ydFpAAAAMAAJ|title=Steel and Silk|first=Sami M.|last=Moubayed|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Cune Press, LLC|isbn=9781885942418|access-date=5 August 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref> They married and moved first to ] 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;<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=69–70}}</ref> and in 1939, she and Hassan were divorced. In her final confrontation with her cousin at ] Hotel in ], 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."<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=99}}</ref> She returned to Cairo and resumed her singing career, entering a short marriage to Egyptian director ].<ref>{{Cite news|title=The lost honor of Farid al-Atrash, Egyptian legend|url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-the-lost-honor-of-farid-al-atrash-1.5355155|access-date=2021-02-18|newspaper=Haaretz|language=en}}</ref>


In 1941, she returned to Syria in a dramatic and secret journey under the auspices of the British. Hassan agreed to meet with her, and used the occasion to successfully entreat her to remarry him. During the time they were married, she twice attempted suicide. Tabloid newspapers suggested that this was so that she could obtain a second divorce from Hassan; however, it seemed he actually agreed due to her visits to ], Jerusalem where wild rumours attached to her behaviour and overspending. Her third and final marriage was to the Egyptian director Ahmed Salem, supposedly to facilitate her return to Egypt over impositions by government authorities. It is unclear how that would occur, however, and she had an ongoing studio contract in Egypt. Asmahan was close friends with the al Othman family and met with them when she travelled to Haifa, Palestine, when they helped her.
==Voice characteristics==
]
In spite of her modern, Western appearance and behavioral patterns, the largest portion of Asmahan’s actual singing remained firmly within the classical Arab musical genre, including compositions by musical innovators such as Mohamed al-Qasabgi and ]. Her success was partly based on her command of Arabic, her enunciation and emphasis of lyrics, which she had been taught by Zakariyya Ahmad, and her mastery of the ''maqam'' (modal) system, which had been taught to her by Mohamed al-Qasabgi. She gained stature through sensitive and successful emotional interpretation as well as musical delivery of various phrases—which often implied a deep understanding of emotional states.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|pp=83-85}}</ref>


Also in 1941, Asmahan met Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egypt's most distinguished singer and composer, and starred with him in his operetta ''Magnun Layla'' ("''Besotted with Layla''").<ref name="weekly.ahram.org.eg"> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725070959/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/933/ee2.htm |date=July 25, 2009 }}</ref> Abdel Wahab introduced her to the journalist, ], who 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 ] but this might be exaggerted. Her brothers, Fuad and Farid, were no longer able to monitor her movements.<ref name="Enchantment 83"/> 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.
Yet, Asmahan also utilized her own resources, such as her Eastern, Arab heritage and a special feeling for arranged folk melodies, to produce her unique sound. She sang a number of compositions whose melodies and lyrics were simple and closely related to the folk themes of both Syria and Egypt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|p=88}}</ref> She also used her vocal and sight-reading (solfeggio) capabilities necessary to produce the Western sounds typical of the romantic and experimental compositions of the late 1930s and early 1940s.<ref name="Zuhur85-6"/> Asmahan was producing work that could be described as "romantic", "populist", "neoclassical", and "modernist" all within 1941, and in her final performances and film appearance after her last return to Egypt.<ref name="Zuhur85-6">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|pp=85-86}}</ref>


Asmahan was proud of her family background,<ref name="Zuhur 2000 p=13"/> and always mentioned her father and his cousin, ], 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.<ref name="Zuhur 2000 p=37">{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=37}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Al-Taba'i|2008|pp=108–109}}</ref> Asmahan was not a first cousin of Hassan's, but referred to him as "ibn 'ammi" to the Egyptians, in fact, she was his second cousin, twice removed (by generation).<ref name="Zuhur 2000 p=37"/>
She was able throughout her career to entrance audiences with a demonstration of vocal clarity, agility, and unusual strength and a reputation for serious delivery, and ability to convey emotional vulnerability.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|1998|pp=86-87}}</ref>


== Vocal characteristics ==
==Cinema and personal life==
{{Original research section|date=July 2009}}
]
]
Asmahan's noted wide vocal range included ] and dramatic ] (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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPBfnT_E1mgC&q=Asmahan%27s+voice+has+been+compared+to+Fairuz+and+Sabah&pg=PA24|title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia|last=Shoup|first=John A.|date=2011-10-31|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781598843620|language=en}}</ref> However, as she began her career more than two decades earlier, she had not in fact, adopted the Italian singing technique known as ], 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 arab).<ref name="Zuhur">Zuhur</ref>
In 1937,<ref name="weekly.ahram.org.eg"></ref> Asmahan's cousin, Prince ], came to Cairo{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} and asked for her hand in marriage. So, she moved to Syria, at which time she was nineteen. Hassan's only condition was for Asmahan to abandon her musical career. Asmahan agreed to the marriage proposal on three conditions of her own: to live in Damascus as opposed to the Druze mountain (the Jabal); to not be forced to don the veil (hijab); and to spend her winters in Cairo.<ref name="asia-times">{{cite news|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JI20Ak04.html|title=The saga of the rebel princess|last=Moubayed|first=Sami |date=2008-09-20|publisher=Asia Times|accessdate=2009-08-08}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com"></ref> Hassan had acquired the title, Amir (or prince), and it was then that Egyptian press dubbed Asmahan as "The Princess of the Mountain". Asmahan lived, initially in Damascus then, foresaking her marriage conditions to support her husband's responsibilities to his people, later in the Jabal. She lived in Suwayda,<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=65}}</ref> and gave birth to a daughter, Camellia. However, Asmahan didn't take well to the hardships of Druze life in the Jabal,<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=71}}</ref> and began to despise married life.<ref name="asia-times" /><ref name="books.google.com"/> She longed for her life in Cairo and her musical career.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=13 and 70}}</ref> Following a confrontation with Hassan's sisters, Asmahan set-off to Cairo, exuberant but terrified by her own scheme to try and end her pregnancy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=70}}</ref>

In 1939,<ref>Encyclopedia of the modern Middle East By Reeva S. Simon, Philip Mattar, Richard W. Bulliet, p. 245</ref> Asmahan and Hassan divorced after three years of marriage<ref name="weekly.ahram.org.eg"/> and she returned to ] with her daughter and resumed her singing career. She met Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egypt's most distinguished singer and composer, and she starred with him in his Magnun Layla (Besotted with Layla) operette.<ref name="weekly.ahram.org.eg"/> For the following two years, her private life may have been too public. Journalists wallowed in her racy conduct in Cairo, Jerusalem, and Beirut. There were alleged affairs with a succession of prominent Egyptian men, including journalist Muhammad al-Tabaʿi, banker ], and royal aide ]. Her brothers, Fuad and Farid, were no longer able to chaperon her.<ref name="Enchantment 83"/> She was, in many respects, her own worst enemy. Her habits of smoking, drinking, and staying up late nights had a detrimental effect on her voice.<ref name="ReferenceA">Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, by the Gale Group, Inc.</ref>

In 1941, Asmahan's first ], Intissar al-Shabab (Triumph of the Youth), was released, and in the process of making this film, she fell in love with and married the film director, Egyptian ]. The marriage was to last only forty days due to Asmahan's family objections because Badrakhan was not Druze. Asmahan's family claimed that she had not been legally divorced from Hassan; she had not remained in Syria long enough to obtain divorce documents before returning to Egypt, although she insisted that Hassan had divorced her.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|pp=97-98}}</ref> Intissar al-Shabab and Asmahan's appearance on screen were not well received by her relatives and the Druze community in Syria. However, in the same year, Asmahan returned to Jabal-al-Druze and remarried her cousin, Hassan, arguably as a cover to espionage activity on behalf of the Allies, which did little to enhance her popularity.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> This marriage, too, was short-lived, perhaps because Asmahan wanted financial freedom. On her way back to Egypt by land, Asmahan met Egyptian film director ] in Jerusalem and they were married and together they returned to Egypt. By remarrying Hassan, Asmahan had regained Syrian citizenship, and it was alleged that on these grounds, the Egyptian government wished to strip her of her Egyptian citizenship<ref></ref><ref>Mansel, Philip (1990) The Riddle of Asmahan, Grand Street, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 76-93</ref>, but the real reason could have been Asmahan’s earlier failed attempts to contact the Nazis or jealousy by Egyptian Queen Nazli for her lover, Ahmed Pasha Hassanein.<ref></ref> It was also alleged that Asmahan entered into the marriage with Salem to maintain her Egyptian citizenship.<ref>], "وكانت رغبتها الأساسية استعادت الجنسية المصرية"]</ref> This marriage, too, was turbulent. Two weeks before her death, a shooting incident occurred during a domestic dispute and Salem was hospitalized with a gun wound to the lung.<ref name="Enchantment 83"/>

In 1944, Asmahan featured in her second and last film, Gharam wa Intiqam (Love and Revenge), with Egyptian actor and director ]. The film contained Asmahan's trademark song,<ref>Pappé, Ilan (2005), The Modern Middle East. p. 173</ref><ref>Broughton, Simon; Mark Ellingham; and Richard Trillosong (2000), World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. p. 331</ref> the waltz, ''Layaly al-Ons fi Vienna''.<ref></ref><ref></ref>


== Role in World War II == == Role in World War II ==
In 1941, during ], Asmahan returned to the ] (Syria, then under the rule of ]) 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 ] and ] would be invading ] through their territory, and to convince them they should not fight. The British and Free French had promised the independence of Syria and Lebanon to all inhabitants on the date of the invasion. The ] agreed, even though some groups did not receive word in time and fought the invading forces. After the Allies secured ] during the ], General ] visited Syria. When the Allies failed to carry out their promise for Syrian independence, Asmahan tried to contact the ] in Turkey, but was stopped at the border and sent to Lebanon. It was also possible that Asmahan needed money because her husband had cut off her expenses, so she may have tried to reach the Germans simply to obtain funds.<ref name="Zuhur 2000"/>


Asmahan told Mohamed al-Taba'i that she was to receive the sum of £40,000 from the British for her services to the allies.<ref>{{Harvnb|Al-Taba'i|2008|pp=142–146}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=115}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zuhur |first1=Sherifa |title=Asmahan's Secrets: Art, Gender and Cultural Disputations |journal=] |date=2000a |volume=88 |pages=41–44 |doi=10.32380/alrj.v0i0.606|doi-access=free}}</ref> General ]'s representative in Cairo was General ]. 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NvPEnnpsnwC|title=Syria's Quest for Independence, 1939-1945|first=Salma Mardam|last=Bey|date=1 September 1997|publisher=Ithaca|access-date=5 August 2016|via=Google Books|isbn= 978-0863721755}}</ref> The same information is stated by ] in his memoirs.<ref name="Zuhur"/>
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== Death ==
{{nobots}}
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 ], Egypt.<ref name="Zuhur 2000"/> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hanan al-Shaykh|title=Beirut Blues|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|year=2013|page=277|isbn=9780307831132}}</ref>
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These circumstances gave rise to many suspicions, rumours 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 ] 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 honour had been besmirched by the many rumours.
In 1941, during ], Asmahan was asked by the ] to return to Syria on a secret mission to convince her people in Jabal al-Druze to allow the ] and ] to enter Syria through their territory without a fight. The Allies promised the independence of Syria.<ref name="asia-times" /> Syria was under the rule of ] at that time. The instructions were for her to not enter Syria illegally. So, at the border, she summoned her half-brother Talal, and when he heard her, he told her to wait for Hassan to come down the arduous journey to the border to hear her in person. Hassan did not allow her across the border until she made a personal promise to remarry him, and she accepted.


Asmahan was buried in Egypt in accordance with her wishes<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=165}}</ref> as, years later, were her two brothers, Fouad and ],<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100912032423/http://www.classicalarabicmusic.com/fareed_al_atrach.htm |date=2010-09-12 }}</ref> in the ] plain in Cairo, which she and brother Farid, along with ],<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090809041701/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/943/ee1.htm |date=August 9, 2009 }}</ref> had restored to some of its former glory.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7OJ0-tXE_9MC&q=%22farid%20al-atrash%22%20buried%20egypt&pg=PA96|title=Architecture for the Dead : Cairo's Medieval Necropolis|first1=Galila El|last1=Kadi|first2=Alain|last2=Bonnamy|date=1 January 2007|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=9789774160745|access-date=5 August 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref>
One source<ref name="asia-times"/><ref name="books.google.com"/> stated that no evidence of payment to Asmahan for her services to the Allies existed in writings on her life or in British documents on that period, and that her family claimed she did it out of patriotism, believing it would help the cause of the independence of Syria. However, Asmahan had told Muhammad al-Tabaʿi that she was to receive a handsome sum (£40,000) from the British for those services.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=115}}</ref><ref></ref> General ]’s representative in Cairo was General 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.<ref></ref>


== Legacy ==
The Allies managed to expel the Vichy forces from Syria, however, Asmahan received death threats from pro-Vichy Druze. She escaped by night on horseback, disguised as a cavalier and rode from Damascus to the Palestinian border. After the Allies secured Syria during the ], she returned to Damascus where she paraded through the streets with her husband Hassan. When Charles de Gaulle visited Syria, she sat behind him during the celebrations.<ref name="asia-times" /><ref name="books.google.com"/>
The ] and a private investor jointly produced a television series depicting the life (and death) of Asmahan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thawra.alwehda.gov.sy/_print_veiw.asp?FileName=45775321720080802231457|title=صحيفة الثورة|access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref> The Arabic series debuted during the month of Ramadan in 2008. Asmahan was played by Syrian actress ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/|title=Homepage|access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref> On 25 November 2015, Google celebrated Asmahan's 103rd birthday using a ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Asmahan's 103rd Birthday|url=https://doodles.google/doodle/asmahans-103rd-birthday/|website=Google|access-date=25 November 2015}}</ref>


==Filmography==
The Allies reneged on their promises for Syrian independence and Asmahan, disgruntled, shifted allegiance to the Nazis. Asmahan embarked on a train journey to ], where she wanted to meet Hitler's ambassador to Turkey and master of Nazi espionage in the Middle East. British officials refused to let her cross the Syrian-Turkish border, and she was deported to Beirut.<ref name="asia-times" /><ref name="books.google.com"/>
* '']'' ("''Triumph of the Youth''"), 1941
</div>
* '']'' ("''Love and Revenge''"), 1944


==Death== ==See also==
*]
{{expandsection}}
On 14 July 1944, a car carrying Asmahan and a female friend of hers crashed into the ] River after the driver lost control. Without a door on their side both ladies got stuck and drowned. Nevertheless, the driver managed to escape.{{fact|date=August 2009}}

These suspicious circumstances gave rise to many rumors and much controversy. Tabloids were rife with conspiracy theories. Among those accused were British intelligence – after many reports claiming she was working with them – of getting rid of her after she handed over some military information to the Germans. The German ] was also accused of killing her for helping the British.{{fact|date=August 2009}}

Asmahan was buried in Egypt in accordance with her wishes<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuhur|2000|p=165}}</ref> alongside her two brothers, Fuad and Farid al-Atrash,<ref></ref> in the Fustat plain in Cairo, which she and brother Farid, along with Egyptian crooner<ref></ref> ], had restored to some of its former glory.<ref></ref>

==Legacy==
{{expandsection}}
<!-- Her house in Syria is located in the French Quarter of ]. Years after her death, that house was seized by the Syrian government, and became – like much of the French Quarter – a property of the Syrian Army. It took the government sixty-two years to give in to the demands to turn the house into a museum for Asmahan and Farid.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} The Ministry of Tourism acquired the house in September 2006, but work on it has yet to start.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}-->

The ] and a private investor jointly produced a television series depicting the life (and death) of Asmahan.<ref></ref> The Arabic series debuted during the month of Ramadan in 2008. Asmahan was played by Syrian actress ].<ref></ref>

==Discography==
{{expandsection}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}
*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
{{col-3}}
*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
{{col-3}}
*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
{{col-end}}

==Filmography==
* ''Intissar al-Shabab'' (''Triumph of the Youth''), 1941
* ''Gharam wa Intiqam'' (''Love and Revenge''), 1944


==References== ==References==
Line 166: Line 94:


==Sources== ==Sources==
*{{citation|last=Zuhur|first=Sherifa |title=Images of enchantment: visual and performing arts of the Middle East|publisher=] Press|date=1998|isbn=9774244672}} *{{citation|last=al-Taba'i|first=Muhammad |title=Asmahan Tells Her Story|year=2008|publisher=Dar al-Shorouk Press|ref=CITEREFAl-Taba'i2008}}
*{{citation|last=Zuhur|first=Sherifa|title=Asmahan's Secrets: Woman, War, and Song|publisher=University of Texas Press|date=2000|isbn=9780292798076|ref=CITEREFZuhur2000}} *{{citation|last=Zuhur|first=Sherifa |title=Images of Enchantment: Visual and Performing Arts of the Middle East|publisher=]|year=1998|isbn=977-424-467-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Zuhur|first=Sherifa |title=Colors of enchantment: theater, dance, music and the visual arts of the Middle East|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|date=2001|isbn=9774246071|ref=CITEREFZuhur2001}} *{{citation|last=Zuhur|first=Sherifa|title=Asmahan's Secrets: Woman, War, and Song|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-292-79807-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/asmahanssecretsw00zuhu}}
*{{citation|last=Zuhur|first=Sherifa |title=Colors of Enchantment: Theater, Dance, Music and the Visual Arts of the Middle East|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|year=2001|isbn=977-424-607-1}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Portal|Egypt|Asia|Biography|Film|Music}}
{{Commons category|Asmahan}} {{Commons category|Asmahan}}
* {{imdb name|0039543}} * {{IMDb name|0039543}}
* *
* , a biography (ISBN 978-0-292-79807-6) * , a biography ({{ISBN|978-0-292-79807-6}})


{{Arabic Pop}} {{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Asmahan}}
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{{Persondata
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|NAME=Asmahan
]
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= al-Atrash, Amal
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= ], ]
|DATE OF BIRTH= 23 November 1918
|PLACE OF BIRTH= ]
|DATE OF DEATH= 14 July 1944
|PLACE OF DEATH=], ]
}}

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{{Lifetime|1918|1944|Asmahan}}
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Latest revision as of 23:39, 23 October 2024

Syrian-singer (1912-1944)
Asmahan
أسمهان
AsmahanAsmahan
Background information
Birth nameAmal al-Atrash
آمال الأطرش
BornNovember 25, 1912
DiedJuly 14, 1944(1944-07-14) (aged 31)
Mansoura, Kingdom of Egypt
GenresArabic music
Occupation(s)Singer, actor
Years active1931–1944
Formerly ofFarid al-Atrash
Musical artist

Amal al-Atrash (Arabic: آمال الأطرش Āmāl al-Aṭrash, North Levantine Arabic pronunciation: [(ʔ)æːmæːl lˈ(ʔ)ætˤrɑʃ]; November 25, 1912 – July 14, 1944), better known by her stage name Asmahan (أسمهان, Arabic pronunciation: [ʔasmahaːn] Asmahān), was a Syrian singer.

Having immigrated to Egypt at the age of three years old from Syria, 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. Her voice was one of the few female voices in Arab music world 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 Syrian 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 supposedly served as governor of the district of Demirci in Turkey, during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, when he fled the country with his children and pregnant wife. On 25 November 1912, they embarked on a ship from İzmir to Beirut, and Asmahan was born on board. She was named "Amal", meaning "hope". She was also called "Emily", but always preferred the name "Amal". After the French came into power, the family returned to Jabal al-Druze.

Following the Adham Khanjar incident in 1922, the al-Atrash home in al-Qrayya (a town in Jabal al-Druze) was bombed by French forces. 'Alia fled with her children to Damascus and, despite orders from Fahd, 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 travelled from there to Egypt, where she sought political asylum for herself and her three children; they were later granted the right of political asylum in 1926 by the Egyptian Government, thus naturalized as Egyptian citizens.

Immigration to Egypt

'Alia and her children after arrival in Egypt

'Alia chose to immigrate to Cairo, because she 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 "courgette") 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 King–Crane Commission) according to one Egyptian journalist. This allowed her to cover the costs of her children's school's tuition, and a nicer apartment on Habib Shalabi Street.

Career

Musical debut

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 birth date 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 fourteen, Asmahan was invited by an Egyptian record company to make 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, Hassan al-Atrash travelled to Egypt, bringing with him a different cousin interested in Asmahan, however, once Hassan, who had already married five times, saw Asmahan, he pursued her and she returned to Syria for at least four years, interrupting her musical career.

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 said to have preciously replicated songs by Umm Kulthoum. 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, Sala Masriyya.

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, Hassan, 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" by appearing onscreen (she had not appeared in "Layla Majun" but her voice is featured) 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

Asmahan with her mother 'Alia al-Mundhir

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 'Ara 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." She returned to Cairo and resumed her singing career, entering a short marriage to Egyptian director Ahmed Badrakhan.

In 1941, she returned to Syria in a dramatic and secret journey under the auspices of the British. Hassan agreed to meet with her, and used the occasion to successfully entreat her to remarry him. During the time they were married, she twice attempted suicide. Tabloid newspapers suggested that this was so that she could obtain a second divorce from Hassan; however, it seemed he actually agreed due to her visits to King David Hotel, Jerusalem where wild rumours attached to her behaviour and overspending. Her third and final marriage was to the Egyptian director Ahmed Salem, supposedly to facilitate her return to Egypt over impositions by government authorities. It is unclear how that would occur, however, and she had an ongoing studio contract in Egypt. Asmahan was close friends with the al Othman family and met with them when she travelled to Haifa, Palestine, when they helped her.

Also in 1941, Asmahan met Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egypt's most distinguished singer and composer, and starred with him in his operetta Magnun Layla ("Besotted with Layla"). Abdel Wahab introduced her to the journalist, Mohamed al-Taba'i, who 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 exaggerted. 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. Asmahan was not a first cousin of Hassan's, but referred to him as "ibn 'ammi" to the Egyptians, in fact, she was his second cousin, twice removed (by generation).

Vocal characteristics

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Asmahan

Asmahan's noted wide vocal range included contralto and dramatic mezzo-soprano (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 arab).

Role in World War II

In 1941, during World War II, Asmahan returned to the French Mandate of Syria (Syria, then under the rule of Vichy France) 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. 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 Asmahan needed money because her husband had cut off her expenses, so she may have tried to reach the Germans simply to obtain funds.

Asmahan told Mohamed al-Taba'i 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.

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, rumours 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 honour had been besmirched by the many rumours.

Asmahan was buried in Egypt in accordance with her wishes as, years later, were her two brothers, Fouad and Farid al-Atrash, in the Fustat plain in Cairo, which she and brother Farid, along with Abdel Halim Hafez, had restored to some of its former glory.

Legacy

The Egyptian Media Production City 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. On 25 November 2015, Google celebrated Asmahan's 103rd birthday using a Google doodle.

Filmography

See also

References

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Sources

External links

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