(b during a voyage from Turkey to Syria, 1917; d Egypt, 14 July 1944). Syrian singer. Born to a well-known Syrian family, she moved to Cairo with her family in 1924 and made some commercial recordings while still a teenager. In 1932 she married her cousin Prince Hasan al-Atrash and returned to Syria. After giving birth to a daughter she was pronounced unable to produce any more children (and not therefore a son and heir). She left her husband to give him the chance of having an heir, and thereafter deep sadness marked her life and the romantic meanings in her songs.
Staying in Cairo with her mother, she made singing her profession. She sang compositions by her brother, Atrash, Farīd al-, and later co-starred in his film Intisār al-shabāb (‘Triumph of youth’). The greatest composers wrote for her: Midhat Assem, Zakariyyā Ahmad, Muhammad al-Qasabjī and Riyād al-Sunbatī. She sang in Muhammed ‘Abd al-Wahhāb's film Yom sa'eid (‘A happy day’) (1939), and co-starred in his operetta Qais and Laila. Her rendition of Muhammad al-Qasabjī's monologue Yā tuyūr (‘O birds’) put her at the peak of modernization in Arabic singing, acclaimed for the rare qualities of her voice and unique performance style.
Her repeated successes, carefree lifestyle and relationships with top Egyptian politicians made her many enemies. In 1941 she returned to her husband in Syria, but was caught up in political trickery and accused of treason. Subsequently she undertook a new film, Gharām wa intiqām (‘Love and revenge’), in Cairo, receiving the highest payment yet known in Egyptian cinema. While filming she died in a mysterious car accident which may have been staged to kill her.
S. Zuhur: ‘Asmahan: Arab Musical Performance and Musicianship under the Myth’, Images of Enchantment (Cairo, 1998), 81–107
SAADALLA AGHA AL-KALAA