Asmahan

Asmahan
أسمهان
Asmahan
Asmahan
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

Amal al-Atrash (Arabic: آمال الأطرش Āmāl al-Aṭrash, North Levantine Arabic pronunciation: [(ʔ)æːmæːl lˈ(ʔ)ætˤrɑʃ]; November 25, 1912 – July 14, 1944),[1] better known by her stage name Asmahan (أسمهان, Arabic pronunciation: [ʔasmahaːn] Asmahān), was a Syrian singer.[2]

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.[3][4] 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,[5] who is considered to be one of the Arab world's most distinguished singers of the 20th century.[6] 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.

  1. ^ "منزل الفنانة أسمهان بات متحفاً" Archived 2013-01-11 at archive.today, Al-Mada
  2. ^ Samy Swayd (10 March 2015). Historical Dictionary of the Druzes. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-4422-4617-1.
  3. ^ "Lebanese Army Journal, Issue Number 241, July 2005". Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Zuhur 2000, p. 85
  6. ^ Prominent Egyptians - Egyptian Government State Information Service