The rebel princess

 

Sami Moubayed

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 Mountain in Syria. Hasan al-Atrash, who had previously married, fell madly in love with her and agreed to all of her conditions, which were: refusal to wear the veil, to live in Damascus rather than the Druze Mountain, as well as to spend winters in Cairo with her mother and brothers. His only condition was that she give up her singing career, which she did. She lived with Hasan al-Atrash for six years, but longed for the artistic life she once enjoyed in Egypt.

She eventually left Damascus and went to live in Suwayda, the capital of the Druze Mountain. Asmahan drank a lot and gambled frequently, causing disgrace at times for the conservative and notable Atrash family in Syria. They preferred to see her as a princess rather than a singer that everyone knew and loved. Despite the Atrash family's attempts at protecting her and dislocating her from fame, Asmahan eventually began to despise married life. She pressured Hasan al-Atrash into a divorce and returned to Cairo where she recorded her classic operetta Majnoun Layla in 1940.

Also in 1940, she made the movie Intisar al-Shabab (Victory of Youth) with her brother Farid al-Atrash. It was directed by the prominent director Ahmad Badr Khan and starred Mary Munir, Thuraya Fakhri and Samia Gamal, the dancer and future mistress of her brother Farid. The movie, which became a classic in Egyptian cinema, mirrored real life for Asmahan and Farid al-Atrash. In it, she plays a girl called Nadia, who comes with her brother Wahid (Farid) to Egypt in search of fame and stardom.

They find employment at a nightclub in Cairo where Nadia becomes popular due to her face and figure. When asked to engage with a rich customer, she refuses and is fired by the nightclub manager. The rich man feels sorry for her and guilty for her unemployment, inviting her to sing at his villa then proposing to marry her. His mother objects to the marriage, saying that she will not have a singer in the family, and forces Nadia to leave the house. She returns to sing with Wahid, who makes it big in show business (just as Farid did in real life). After the movie, she made headlines in the Cairo press for her romance with the director Ahmad Badr Khan, and even married him briefly for 40 days.

In May 1941, Asmahan got involved in politics through her connections with the Allies, who were striving to liberate Syria from the pro-Vichy regime of General Henri Dentz. Contrary to what was written in many Arabic books, there was no spying involved. However, Asmahan was asked to go to Syria on the behalf of the Allies to speak with the Druze leaders and obtain a promise from them to facilitate the entry of the Allied forces to Syria. As a member of the Atrash family, the Allies believed, she would be able to convince prominent Druze leaders of their cause, like Sultan al-Atrash, Abd al-Ghaffar al-Atrash and her ex-husband Hasan.

They were asked to resist the Vichy forces that were opposed to the Allies and prevent reinforcements coming to the Druze Mountain. Hasan agreed to her request but conditioned that she marry him once again, which she accepted. Some claimed that she was rewarded with 40,000 pounds (roughly US$72,000) for her service to the Allies, but there is no evidence in any of the sources on her life, or the British documents on the period, to show that she actually received money for the mission. Her family later claimed that she worked with the Allies out of patriotism, believing that this would advance the cause of Syrian independence.

As planned, the Druze leaders permitted the Allies to move into the Syrian heartland, and they managed to expel the Vichy forces from Syria. While staying at the Orient Palace Hotel in Damascus, Asmahan received death threats from unknown people, who were believed to be pro-Vichy Druze. She escaped by night on horseback, leaving her luggage behind. She disguised herself as a male horseman and rode all the way to the Syrian-Palestinian border.

There, she used documents given to her by the British and crossed into Palestine, where the Allies protected her. Edward Spears, the British ambassador to Syria, expressed intense admiration for Asmahan saying: "She was and will always be to me one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Her eyes were immense, green as the color of the sea you have to cross on the way to paradise."

After the invasion, she returned to Damascus where she paraded through the streets with her husband Hasan and sat behind General Charles de Gaulle during the celebrations held when he visited Syria and promised independence. Her husband was rewarded for his service by becoming minister of war in the cabinet of prime minister Husni al-Barazi in 1942.

The Free French reneged on their promise of independence and a disgruntled Asmahan shifted her allegiance to the Nazis in revenge. She boarded a train and headed to Ankara, where she wanted to meet Franz von Papen, Hitler's ambassador to Turkey and master of Nazi espionage in the Middle East. British officials at the border refused to let her pass, and she was deported to Beirut, where she would be unable to cause them any harm nor contact the Nazis.

She began to want financial freedom and divorced Hasan once again, heading to Jerusalem. She then married Ahmad Salim, an Egyptian, to return to Egypt because authorities refused to give her a visa due to her attempted collaboration with the Nazis. Once back in Cairo, she began work on her last film Gharam wa Intikam with Yusuf Wehbi, but died before it was completed. In it, she sang her classic Layali al-Uns fi Vienna that Mohammad Abd al-Wahab composed. Asmahan died when her car crashed into a water-filled ditch and she drowned, on July 14, 1944.

As the car was falling into the ditch, the driver jumped out and Asmahan tried to grab the wheel, but failed to rescue herself or a friend who was with her. It was generally believed that she was killed by one of the many enemies that she made in Egypt during the years 1939-1941. 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.

Lawrence of Arabia, another legendary figure from the 20th century, once said that all people dream, but not equally. "Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."

The high approval ratings of the 2008 series Asmahan are testimony; she was a woman who dreamt by day, with eyes wide open.

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Sami Moubayed is a Syrian writer and political analyst. This article appeared in Asia Times on September 19, 2008.