Page 1 of 2 The saga of the rebel princess
By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - In the 1930s, General Gabriel Peaux, the French high commissioner in
Syria at the time, met a remarkable woman at Druze Mountain - a princess - at
the home of her husband, Emir Hasan Atrash.
He described her by saying, "She didn't take well to the hardships of Druze
life, and tried to create, in sad Suwayda [the capital of Druze Mountain,
center of the Druze community], an occidental atmosphere. She received us
unveiled, in a pleated white gown, speaking a clear, pure French learned in a
convent in Egypt. Cocktails were being served in front of a mahogany bar built
into the salon of the villa. French officers, sabers in their uniforms,
surrounded the amira [princess] who laughed while drinking a mixture of
champagne and whisky."
He added, "Eros was a god of Hellenism [the Greek word implies
culture, grace and perfection] that Mohammad could not dethrone." The
rebellious woman inside her overshadowed the conservative lady that people
expected in a Muslim country like Syria.
Peaux was referring to
Princess Amal al-Atrash, better known by her stage
name, Asmahan. Her music, performed in the 1930s,
survived long after her premature
death in 1944, and she is considered a legend in contemporary Arab music,
matched only by the Egyptian diva, Um Kalthoum. Three years ago, the veteran
Syrian director Nabil al-Maleh began toying with the idea of producing a work
about Asmahan.
It was going to be a 30-episode drama about the life of the late Syrian singer;
a saga about art, music, revolution, politics, espionage and love. Television
biographies, after all, have become popular - and controversial - in the Arab
world. Artists begin preparation for a work on any particular celebrity, and
are confronted with the subject's family and descendants, who drown the work
for a variety of reasons.
The only exceptions were the families of Egyptian leaders King Farouk, Gamal
Abdul-Nasser and Anwar al-Sadat, who supported cinematic and television
biographical films about them, and the family of the Egyptian singer Um
Kalthoum. Sometimes, when projects are vetoed, the reasons are financial,
demanding a high fee to write off any script, or threatening to take the
producers to court.
At other times, the family is simply unimpressed by a certain script, and
demand major changes, claiming that the icon is depicted in a wrong - or
deliberately insulting - manner. That was the case with the family of the
legendary Arab poet Nizar Qabbani, which sued the producers of a Syrian drama
about him, claiming they were not consulted in the post-production process,
that the script was mediocre and that the work did Nizar Qabbani a great
disservice by showing him in a bad light - as an obsessed womanizer rather than
an impassioned poet.
The producers fired back, claiming that Qabbani was a public figure, and not
the property of the Qabbani family. The family of Egyptian crooner Abdul-Halim
Hafez filed a lawsuit - and won - against the Saudi satellite channel MBO - for
airing a drama in 2006 about his life and career, where an amateur actor played
the role of the Egyptian singer.
The family of Syrian president Shukri al-Quwatli asked the authors of a script
about him to halt the project in 2008, threatening to go to court if the
project ever materialized without their consent. And now, the family of the
singer Asmahan follows the same argument, going to court to halt a 2008
production about her, called Asmahan.
Maleh went ahead with his project, battling a court case with certain members
of the Atrash family, who did not want a work about her to appear on
television. Asmahan is still considered a princess in her native community,
rather than just a stage singer with a majestic voice. Fifty years after her
death, the academic Sherifa Zuhur met with Asmahan's brother Fuad al-Atrash
when writing her book Asmahan's Secrets, and when she asked him about
his sister Asmahan, he replied, "You mean you want to talk about the Princess
Amal al-Atrash?"
The family did not want the Emira to be shown in her family feud with her
husband, Druze leader Hasan Atrash. They were disturbed how the work would deal
with the final years of her life, when speculation was raised that she was
working as an agent for British intelligence in the Middle East, and having an
affair with Hasannein Pasha, the private chamberlain of King Farouk I.
The producers went ahead, finishing a 30-episode drama with the Syrian beauty
Sulaf Fawakhirji playing the role of Asmahan, the Lebanese actress Ward al-Khal
playing the role of Asmahan's mother Alia al-Munzer and Ahmad Shaker playing
her brother, another legend in his own right, the singer Farid al-Atrash.
Asmahan's voice singing solo throughout the work was dubbed by the young Syrian
singer Waed al-Bahri.
Syrian Minister of Information Muhsen Bilal nodded to members of the Atrash
family, who filed the legal case in Syrian courts, banning the work from Syrian
television, days after the cast completed filming. But Bilal had no
jurisdiction over Saudi and Lebanese channels, which snubbed the Atrash family
after having brought the work and began broadcasting the drama this September
during the Muslim month of Ramadan.
Asmahan's only daughter Camilia al-Atrash (who married into the powerful
Jumblatt clan in Lebanon) appeared in a front page interview in the Lebanese
weekly al-Afkar, claiming that the producers had indeed received her consent to
produce the work, and that only her cousin was opposed to it, claiming that she
is currently watching the series, and to date, has no reservations about how
her mother is depicted on screen.
The life of Asmahan, one of the most colorful, controversial, and inspiring
women in Arab world during the 20th century, probably explains why the work has
raised eyebrows in Syria and Lebanon, where the Druze community remains
powerful and influential. Audiences have been glued to their TV sets, watching
the unfolding saga of the Druze princess who rebelled against society and
marriage, inspiring many singers from the 1940s onwards to do the same.
The rebel princess?
Asmahan, or Amal al-Atrash, was born into Syrian society in 1917. Her mother
raised her in Egypt, fearing for her safety and that of her brothers because of
the political turmoil in the Druze Mountain, as a result of consecutive
revolts, first against the Ottomans and then against the French. Her parents
divorced in 1924 and she was left in the care of her mother, Princess Alia, in
Egypt. The family lived in poverty in Cairo, and to earn a living Alia made a
few recordings and sung at private parties, making use of her strong voice,
which nevertheless, needed plenty of practice.
Amal's talent was discovered by a family friend and composer from Lebanon, who
was residing in Cairo while she was still in school. She made her first
recording under his request and in the early 1930s performed at local
nightclubs with her brother Farid al-Atrash, who played in the orchestra behind
her. The lady Atrash changed her name to Asmahan, a catchy yet classy art name,
and like Farid became a quick success in Egypt. She was young, beautiful, had a
strong voice and a very confident performance.
She attracted the attention of prominent Egyptians, like the musician Mohammad
Abd al-Wahab and the banker Talaat Harb, who both endorsed her career. Abd
al-Wahab advised her to go into the cinema, which was a novelty in the Arab
world, saying that this would bring her more fame. Abd al-Wahab who composed
the tune to her operetta Majnoun Layla (Layla Fanatic) in the
film Yawm Sa'id (Happy Day) and the classic song Layali al-Uns fi
Vienna (Nights of Companionship in Vienna).
She also began to sing at Mary Mansur's Club with the Qassabji Orchestra. By
the late 1930s, Asmahan was performing before international dignitaries and had
become a popular name in Egypt. She also reportedly had a romance with Hasanein
Pasha, the tutor and chamberlain of King Farouk of Egypt. In 1937, she recorded
her 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).
Asmahan quit her career under family pressure in 1933 to marry Prince Hasan
al-Atrash, the leading political figure in the Druze
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survived long after her premature
death in 1944, and she is considered a legend in contemporary Arab music,
matched only by the Egyptian diva, Um Kalthoum. Three years ago, the veteran
Syrian director Nabil al-Maleh began toying with the idea of producing a work
about Asmahan.
