Asmahan (Arabic: أسمهان Asmahān; birth name: Amal al-Atrash; November 18, 1918 – July 14, 1944)^[1] was a renowned Egyptian^[2] singer and actor of Syrian-Lebanese origin. She was the sister of Farid al-Atrash, a famous singer in his own right. Asmahan is one of the most important names of twentieth century Arabic music.

Early career

She was born on a ship heading from Greece to Lebanon. Asmahan started her career as a teenager in Cairo, Egypt, where she worked with many famous Egyptian composers such as Riyadh el-Sonbati and Mohamed El Qasabgi. Her films included Intisar Echabab and Garam Wentiqam.

Family

• Asmahan's father was Fahd al-Atrash, an Arab Druz from Syria. Her parents divorced when Asmahan was an infant.
• Her mother 'Aleya Menzer was a Lebanese Druze. She was a singer and an oud player. She was known to be the source of inspiration for her children.
• Her brother Farid was a musician, singer and a virtuoso oud player; he composed many of her songs.
• She also had an older brother, Fouad, and a sister and another brother who died at a very young age.

Life

Asmahan's father was Governor of the district of Demirci in Turkey, during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. Her Druze princely family fought the French Colonial armies. When Syria fell to the allies in 1918 Asmahan's father feared revenge, and on October 24, 1918 he fled the country with his two sons and pregnant wife. They took the boat from İzmir to Beirut, and Asmahan was born on that boat. She was named "Amal" (Arabic: آمال Āmāl), meaning "hopes". She was also called "Emily", but always preferred the name "Amal".

Her parents separated in her early childhood. Her father returned to his hometown in Sweida, while the rest of the family emigrated to Egypt (around 1923), where they were naturalized as Egyptian citizens. Her mother 'Aleya Menzer started singing at private parties to support herself and her children. Everyone in the family could sing (the mother and Farid could also play oud), but success was only to crown the efforts of the two most gifted: Farid and Amal. She was known for her beauty and fear of water.

Asmahan and her debut

Amal's vocal talent was discovered at an early age. Little Amal used to sing at home and in the school's special celebrations. She loved particularly to sing Oum Koulthoum's songs (which are very difficult to sing because of their wide and high tessitura and difficult florid and coloraturas passages full of every sort of complex vocal ornamentation typical of the oriental music) and also Mohammad Abdel Wahab's songs (Abdel Wahab was famous for his pure and chic line of singing who gave away all unnecessary ornamentation and just kept the essentials that suit the dramatic essence of the lyrics and the song's meaning).

Their family friend, the Lebanese musician Farid Ghosn, introduced the young talent Amal to Zakaria Ahmad, Mohammad el Qasabji and Daoud Hosni, who were all under the spell of her enchanting voice and musical talent. Hosni suggested her name be changed to Asmahan in memory of an old Persian singer.

There is another version of her discovery: Once her brother Farid (still a debutant singer and Oud player) was receiving at home one of the biggest musicians in Egypt, the famous composer Daoud Hosni. He happened to hear her singing while she was in her room, so he demanded to see her immediately and asked her to sing again, so Amal sang one more time and Daoud Hosni was very impressed and pleased, after she finished he told her that he once had a pupil who had a beautiful voice, but died at a very young age before knowing the fame she would have deserved, so therefore she was named after that pupil and called Asmahan and so henceforth Amal became Asmahan.

At the age of sixteen, Asmahan was solicited by a record company in Egypt to register her first Album which featured her first song Ya Nar Fouadi by Farid Ghosn. With the music and singing taking all her time she had to drop out of school, but she had already joined one of the most prestigious music academies in Egypt. She had the biggest names in music as her mentors or Pygmalions: Farid Ghosn, Daoud Hosni, Mohammad El Qasabji And Zakaria Ahmad who gave her all the vocal training and music lessons (though she learned music from an early age at her school). With their help she was offered a contract with Colombia Recordings.

Asmahan's rise to fame was very quick, her repertoire started growing with songs composed by El Qasabji, Farid Ghosn and another song "Ahedni Ya Albi" by Zakaria Ahmed. Her first public performance was in the prestigious Cairo Opera (where only real talents only get there after years of hard work as their final consecration or recognition as an accredited artist). She was also asked to sing in the aristocratic family celebrations. She also started singing at Mary Mansour's night club alongside her brother Farid.

But it wasn't long before her cousin Prince Hassan al-Atrash came to Cairo and asked for her hand in marriage, so she moved to Syria with her cousin where the marriage was celebrated in 1933, and gave birth to a daughter, Camellia. She lived in Sweida, where people dubbed her "The Princess of the Mountain" (of Jabal el Druze mountain).

Her marriage ended in divorce four years later. After that she returned to Cairo and resumed her singing career, where she married Egyptian director Ahmed Baderkhan, but they were soon divorced. In 1941 she went back to Syria and re-married her cousin Hassan for a short time. Finally, she married Egyptian director Ahmed Salem.

Asmahan's originality and voice characteristics

Known for her wide vocal range, Asmahan's voice could cover the low notes and Oriental Modes and sub-modes to reach the upper Soprano measures; this is shown in her song ya toyoor where she reaches a high A with ease and brio. Asmahan's voice could be seen as the mixture of two oriental divas' voices opposed in style and interpretation Fairouz, famous of her angelic tone of voice who was among the first to adopt the western (old Italian school of singing) singing method using a head resonance technique that is nearer to falsetto at a time where the nasal and chest resonance technique was reigning in the Arabic singing scene, and who despite the fact that her voice is hard to be classified between the mezzo-contralto (alto) and mezzo-soprano could reach high notes yet with less power than Asmahan but have a wide range of dynamics ranging from pianissimo to fortissimo from bottom to top, and Sabah (singer) who is famous for her powerful voice whose technique is similar to the American Broadway belting technique (belt (music)), alongside her phenomenal long breath where she can hold a high note for more than one minute.

Too much pressure (chest resonance technique) will deprive the singer from using a lot of dynamics as he will lose all the pianissimo and the bridge between the head and chest voices will be very difficult, not to mention that the legato line singing will be impossible and that the vocal range will shorten where the head register becomes weak. On the other hand the head voice technique (typical of the Western classical and operatic singing) will eliminate any chest resonance so the voice will become too sweet or artificial and consequently lose all the power and dramatic capacities required for the oriental Tarab genre

Asmahan's voice was so powerful that despite her heavy singing she was still able to use her head register and sing in a very controlled tone of voice a very demanding high pitched musical line with a very impressing and elegant Legato (the vocalization) in Ya touyour by Mohamed El Qasabgi and in a light color of voice (reaching a high A=LA) then return to sing the medium notes and reach the low register with the typical Arabic (nasal+chest) technique. Besides the fact that she was the first Arabic singer to use the classical western technique, very few performers are able to alternate two opposed styles of interpretation and technique in one song.

Some say that Nahwand had similar vocal abilities as Asmahan. Another specialty about her talent was her strength of breath and its duration, accompanied by her ability to switch between various musical notes in one musical sentence, a talent only shared with Fairouz.

Role in World War II

In 1941, during World War II, Asmahan came back to the French Mandate of Syria (Syria was under the rule of Vichy France at that time). She was on a secret mission to convince her people in Jabal el-Druze to allow the British and Free French forces to enter Syria through their territory without a fight. In this way, she filled a similar role to that of Edith Piaf in France. The British and Free French promised the independence of Syria in return, and the Druze agreed. After the Allies secured Syria during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign, General Charles de Gaulle visited Sweida (the capital of Jabal el-Druze) where he met Asmahan, his successful messenger.

Death

On 14 July 1944, a car carrying Asmahan and a female friend of hers crashed into the River Nile after the driver lost control. Without a door on their side both ladies got stuck and drowned. Nevertheless, the driver managed to escape.

Asmahan was always afraid of water. When she was young a gypsy told her just as she was born in water she would die in water.

These suspicious circumstances gave rise to many rumors and much controversy, comparable to that of Lady Diana. Tabloids were rife with conspiracy theories, pointing fingers everywhere. They accused the 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. They also accused the German Gestapo of killing her for helping the British.

Museum

Her house in Syria is located in the French Quarter of Sweida. 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.

The Ministry of Tourism acquired the house in September 2006, but work on it has yet to start.

A television series in Arabic debuted in 2008 depicting her life and was shown during the month of Ramadan. Asmahan was played by Sulaf Fawakherji.

Notes

External links

• Asmahan at IMDb
• Asmahan Fan site
• Asmahan's Facebook Page
• Introduction to Asmahan's Secrets, a biography (ISBN 978-0-292-79807-6)

Template:Arabic Pop