Asmahan

Asmahan, sibling and frequent collaborator of the renowned Farid al-Abash, earned recognition as the sole vocalist whose range invited direct comparison to Umm Kulthum, yet delivered what one Arab specialist characterized as added “tenderness and femininity.” Deeply rooted in classical forms, she simultaneously advanced the film-centered and partly Western-inflected “new music” of the 1940s, lending several of her most enduring pieces to that hybrid direction. Her brother joins her vocally on numerous recordings. Public fascination with Asmahan grew further from a personal life that remained anything but secluded. Throughout World War II she acquired a reputation for serving simultaneously as a triple, if not quadruple, agent, while especially fervent Cairene speculation attributed her fatal car accident to the British Secret Service.