Asmahan's Secrets : Woman, War, and Song (Middle East Monograph Series, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin) (CMES Middle East Monograph Series)

The great Arab singer Asmahan was the toast of Cairo song and cinema in the late 1930s and early 1940s, as World War II approached. She remained a figure of glamour and intrigue throughout her life and lives on today in legend as one of the shaping forces in the development of Egyptian popular culture. In this biography, author Sherifa Zuhur does a thorough study of the music and film of Asmahan and her historical setting. A Druze princess actually named Amal al-Atrash, Asmahan came from an important clan in the mountains of Syria but broke free from her traditional family background, left her husband, and became a public performer, a role frowned upon for women of the time. This unique biography of the controversial Asmahan focuses on her public as well as her private life. She was a much sought-after guest in the homes of Egypt's rich and famous, but she was also rumored to be an agent for the Allied forces during World War II. Through the story of Asmahan, the reader glimpses not only aspects of the cultural and political history of Egypt and Syria between the two world wars, but also the change in attitude in the Arab world toward women as public performers on stage. Life in wartime Cairo comes alive in this illustrated account of one of the great singers of the Arab world, a woman who played an important role in history. "The great Arab singer Asmahan was the toast of Cairo song and cinema in the 1930s, as World War II approached. A Druze princess actually named Amal al-Atrash, she came from an important clan in the mountains of Syria, but broke free from her traditional family background, left her husband, and became a public performer, a role frowned upon for women of the time. She was also rumored to be an agent for the allied Forces during World War II. Through the story of Asmahan and her musical career, the reader glimpses not only aspects of the cultural and political history of Egypt and Syria between the two world wars, but also the change in attitude in the Arab world toward women as public performers on stage."--BOOK JACKET. Frontmatter Preface (page ix) Introduction Disentangling the Diva (page 1) Chapter 1 A Child of Ma'ruf (page 24) Chapter 2 To Quiet the Nightingale (page 53) Chapter 3 The Triumph of Youth (page 78) Chapter 4 Mission of War (page 110) Chapter 5 Passion and Revenge from Jerusalem to the Road of Death (page 143) Illustrations Chapter 6 Asmahan's Musical Legacy (page 167) Chapter 7 Culture, Politics, and Gender (page 206) Bibliography (page 223) Index (page 245)