Archives des années 1942/1944
ed. 1992
أسمهان
du filme "Intissar Echahab"
avec Farid Elatrache
01 - Generique
[2:15]
02 - Intissar Echabab [7:47]
03 - Echems Ghabet Anouar'ha [6:19]
04 - Ya Layali Elbichri [5:36]
05 - Ya Dirati Idi Fi Idek [6:28]
06 - Elward [6:11]
07 - Kan Li Amal [6:39]
08 - Ellil [6:14]
Asmahan (1912-1944)
Amal al-Atrash was born and raised to a notable family in the Druze
Mountain. Her father died in 1924 and she was left in the care of her
mother, Princess Alia. In July 1925, a military uprising took place
against the French Mandate in Syria, launched from the mountain by her
uncle Sultan al-Atrash. Many members of the Atrash family fled from
Syria to avoid persecution by French authorities. Her mother went to
Egypt where in order to earn a living, she began to sing with her
daughter Amal. In 1936, Amal started working at local nightclubs with
her brother Farid al-Atrash, a saloon crooner who was rising to stardom
in Egypt. The lady Atrash changed her name to Asmahan, a catchy yet
classy art name, and like Farid, became an instant success. She was
young, beautiful, had a strong voice, and a very confident performance.
She attracted the attention of the royal family in Cairo, most notably
King Farouk, who endorsed her career. By the mid-1930s, Asmahan was
performing before international dignitaries and was a popular name in
Egypt. In 1937, she recorded her first song Aleik Salat Allah (For you
is the prayer of God), which her brother composed for the film
Al-Mahfal al-Sharif (The Holy Lodge). In 1941, she quit her career to
marry the Druze chief Prince Hasan al-Atrash, who had been her husband
in the 1930s, but they divorced, and she returned to Cairo to devote
her life to singing.
In the 1940s, Asmahan performed her masterpiece Ya Habibi Ta'ala Lhakni
(My Love Come Follow Me) and earned a wide audience in the Arab world.
The Egyptian diva Um Kalthum tried to obstruct her career because she
felt threatened by her dramatic rise to fame. Asmahan collaborated with
renowned Egyptian composers like Mohammad al-Qassabji and Mohammad Abd
al-Wahab, who composed the tune to her operetta Majnoun Layla (Layla
Fanatic) in the film Yawm Sa’id (Happy Day). Abd al-Wahab also
composed the classic song Layali al-Uns fi Vienna (Nights of
Companionship in Vienna). In 1942, she started to co-star with her
brother Farid in Egyptian feature films like Intisar al-Shabab (Victory
of Youth) and Gharam Wa Intikam (Love and Revenge). Asmahan died in a
car accident when her car crashed into a water-filled ditch and drowned
on July 14, 1944. During the years 1935-1940, the young star made more
enemies than friends in Egypt. Um Kalthum and other Egyptian singers
lobbied to bring her down, claiming that she was not an Egyptian
performer, and belonged in Syria. Asmahan developed a serious drinking
problem towards the end of her life and was often short of money.
According to one of her biographers Sa’id al-Jaza’iri, who
wrote the book Asmahan in 1990, she lost her desire to perform on
stage, believing that she was too noble to work as a saloon artist.
Jaza'iri adds that reportedly, towards the end of her life, Asmahan
worked with the British Intelligence during World War II. Using her
connections in the Druze Mountain, she even facilitated the entry of
Allied forces into Syria, through the mountain, to expel the pro-German
regime of General Henri Dentz. Some biographers of Asmahan argue that
she was not a regular employee but got paid for one mission, which was
to warn her family in the Druze Mountain from the Anglo-British
invasion of Syria. She was also involved in a relationship with
Hasanein Pasha, a prominent royal in King Farouk’s Egypt. In
future years, when World War II ended, the Arab media accused her of
channeling information on the daily lives of Arab officials to British
Intelligence. Despite the numerous rumors regarding her death, Asmahan
is still regarded as one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th
century. She is an established symbol of glamour and intrigue in the
Arab World and a legend in modern Arabic music.
Although Asmahan's is probably the only voice that can be compared with
Um KaAltsum's it has qualities of its own, having much tenderness and
feminity to offset the greater prefection of the "Grand Old Lady's".
Like the older members of the family, she came from the Djebel Druse
where her forebears were the Emirs until Lebanon and Syria became a
French mandate.
Born in 1918, she lived in Lebanon until 1920, when her father was
appointed Governor of the Province of Demergi in Turkey. He soon
returned, however, to spend the remainder of his lifeas an ordinary
citizen in his native mountains. Asmahan's father died in 1924, when
she was only six, and her family then emigrated to Egypt, where the
little princess, who had been cherished by her father, was to
experience the hardships which befall a family that has fallen upon
evil days. Although of noble origin, her mother Set Aleya was reduced
to singing at private parties to support herself and her children,
three boys and a girl, the future Asmahan. Everyone in the family could
sing, but success was only to crown the efforts of the two more gifted:
Farid and Asmahan.
Asmahan knew something about the European way of singing - perhaps she
had gained it just by listening - and she probably unconsciously made
use of this knowledge when interpreting genuinely authentic Arabic
songs. This is very noticeable in for example "dakhalt marra fignina"
by Mid'het Assem and "ya tûyûr" by Kassabgi. Yet an Arabic
listener was not disturbed by this foreign element for Asmahan was at
the same time a past-master of every aspect of Arabic song. This voice,
alas too soon silenced, dominated Arabic singing in the thirties to
such an extent that - with the possible exception of ZakariaAhmed -
composers who were working for Ûm Kalsûm wanted to work
with Asmahan.
It was "aleïk salat allah", a chant composed by Farid Elatrash
that launched her as a singer. He had composed it as a musical
illustration to the film El Mahmal Esharif, afilm about the caravan
transporting every second year the embroidered material going to shroud
the Sacred Shrines: black velvet for the Kaaba, green silk for the Tomb
of the Prophet in Medina. It's the waqf - a Cairene religious
association whom tied up legacies have been bequeathed through the
years - that gets a number of unpaid women to embroider them. The song
above was first interpreted by Farid; then the producer preferred the
interpretation by Asmahan, the one which was going to be known all over
the world in the1937-38.
Asmahan never fell into the trap of interpreting the works of one
composer alone, as Faïza Ahmed, and Warda at the beginning of her
career, later did. She cooperated with her brother Farid in the
film "intissar echabab" and "gharam wentiqam" but she insisted on
singing songs by other composers. She collaborated with Kassabgi, Riad
Sombati and even with Abdelwahab (in the Operette "magnûn
Leïla" in the film "yûm saïd") although he was noton
good terms with her brother at the time.
The way Asmahan sang her songs awakened people and intrigued their ear
accustomed to traditional music. The song"ayûh
ennaïmû" by Riad Sombati in the film "gharam wentiqam"
proved that it is possible to give a highly dramatic interpretation of
an Arabic song without losing its Oriental character.
She died in 1944 in a car accident caused, it is rumoured, by the war
waged between the secret services in Cairo during World War II.
Although her life was short her influence on Arabic singing will stil
be felt for a long time. Whereas Ûm Kalsûm brought
classical singing to a perfection surpassing that aimed at by
hermasters such as Abû al-°Ila, Asmahan's style of
interpretation has enriched Arabic song by opening a window to the
music of the Western World, without obliterating the fundamental
difference between the two sorts of music. The mastery she displayed
when interpreting an Arabic songin the classical manner such as
"leïta lilbarraqi aïnan" was equalled by that she showed when
singing "ya tûyûr" in a styleinfluenced by Western
technique, and the wonder is that, in doing so, she did not disturb in
the least Arabic listeners.