Asmahan (Arabic: أسمهان Asmahān; Amal al-Atrash; 25 November 1918 at Mediterranean Sea – 14 July 1944 in Nile River, Egypt) was a Syrian-Egyptian singer and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, she became the apprentice of Egyptian classical music pioneers, Dawood Hosni, Mohamed El Qasabgi and Zakariyya Ahmad. She also sang the compositions of Mohammed Abdel Wahab and her brother Farid al-Atrash, a then rising star musician in his own...
more
Asmahan (Arabic: أسمهان Asmahān; Amal al-Atrash; 25 November 1918 at Mediterranean Sea – 14 July 1944 in Nile River, Egypt) was a Syrian-Egyptian singer and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, she became the apprentice of Egyptian classical music pioneers, Dawood Hosni, Mohamed El Qasabgi and Zakariyya Ahmad. She also sang the compositions of Mohammed Abdel Wahab and her brother Farid al-Atrash, a then rising star musician in his own right. Hers was the only voice in Arab music to ever pose a serious competition to that of Umm Kulthum, considered to be the Arab world's most distinguished singer of the 20th century. Her mysterious, untimely death by drowning at the age of twenty-six drew speculations about tribulations in her personal life and an espionage role in World War II.
Asmahan was born to Fahd al-Atrash, a Syrian Druze from Suwayda, and 'Alia al-Mundhir, a Lebanese Druze from Hasbaya. Her father came from the Druze al-Atrash clan, well-known in Syria for its role...
less
