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Upon
arriving in Cairo, Asmahan accepted a dancing job in a
small hotel show in Opera Square, the Atlas Hotel.
It was sort of a dive, but was a place that a lot of famous dancers
had gotten their first start. Aisa Shariffe had danced
there a few years before. Alot of Movie Stars came to hang out
and played poker with an exclusive clientele. After two months
she was invited to see Fifi Abdou, the top star. In the
middle of the performance Fifi started joking on the microphone
and came to the table to ask who she was. The celebrities at
the table teased Fifi that this was a big star from California.
Fifi pulled her up onto the stage to make fun of her, but Asmahan
danced to Leylet Hob to rapturous applause from the audience.
The manager asked her to sustitute for Fifi. Two weeks later
Asmahan was signed for a two month contract to dance at the Meridian
Hotel with her own orchestra. This was the first opportuntiy
to perform for the sophisticated Egyptian audience. She had to
form a band, pay for rehersals, design the show format, and teach
the musicians the technique for the tableaux. The most exciting
element was the fact that now the sword dance show would be accompanied
by a folkore group using the mizmar and saidi drums.
The
show was very successful and she was offered to dance at the
Mena House Oberoi to substitute for Hanan.
Now Asmahan had her own small orchestra of fifteen musicians
plus a four piece folklore group. She was begining to make a
name for herself, and was asked to dance for Nagwa Fouad at
the Cairo Sheraton. After that she worked at the Hayatt
El Salem for Aisa Shariffe. These were
the most famous dancers in the world and it was an honour to
dance in their footsteps performing for the most discerning audiences
in the Middle East. The greatest moment came when Tahia Carioca
came backstage to congratulate her and was amazed to find that
Asmahan was not Egyptian.
For
two years she was working two or three shows a night rushing
from one hotel to another, with the hope of securing a contract
of her own at a five star hotel establishing herself as a star.
After one month at the Nile Hilton substituting
for Mervet Badri, the management of the hotel, having
heard rave reviews, came to see her show. The next day her impresario
called to arrange an appointment to meet the manager and sign
the contract to become the star at the Nile Hilton. The manager.
Hassan Humza, was so astonished that she wasn't Egyptian he could
hardly speak. He would not sign her because she was "not
Egyptian". Asmahan was the first foreigner to ever work
in the five star hotels and she had been considered Egyptian.
But the managers were not ready to sign an American. It would
take another five years before that would happen.
It was coming to the Christmas holiday season and an offer came
to dance at the Sheraton Hotel in Hurgada. This
was lovely location on the Red Sea with many distinguished guests
from all over the Middle East. There were also many important
Egyptians from the hotel industry and government officials and
ministers. One of the guests was the area manager of Hilton,
who asked her to star at the Ramses Hilton when it opened in
a few years. The christmas and new years season was a welcome
two month break from Cairo. After two years of working every
night several shows a night, exhausted and disenchanted, she
decided to return to London.
The
night club scene was very good in London. As Asmahan had worked
in Cairo, she now had more status (the other artists called it
"having a name") and could do a costume change with
the sword dance. She danced at Elf Leila wah Leila
and Cave du Rois. The two years in Cairo had
refined her dancing, given her a new style of costmes and given
her a desire to develope a more original show. Mona Said,
Sahar Hamdi, Safra Usri, Nelly Fouad, Zizi
Moustafa, and Shu Shu Amin were all dancing in the
top clubs. All the most famous singers Ahmed Adaweya,
Wadia Safie, Mouharem Fouad, Suad Mohamed,
Tony Hanna, and Sabah were performing with
some of the best musicians in the Middle East. This was a very
stimulating and exciting artistic environment. The big difference
for Asmahan was not having her own orchestra which would work
everywhere with her and would play to their best ability at all
times.
Asmahan found the perfect music she had been wanting to match
her dancing style. She always had wonderful creative relationships
with the musicians and was respected as an artist. The musicians
are the life blood of the dancers life. They are amazing characters
and all of them work in fascinating combinations to create distinctive
music for each dancer. The musicians actually play through the
character of the dancer. She is like a conductor with the form
of her dancing style affecting the shape and modulation of the
music. Mohammed Salem had composed a beautiful piece for
the Magencey (entrance music) and agreed to sell it to
her. She had a studio recording of the music made, a musical
score written, and copyrighted the composition.
An opportunity came to dance in Tunis at a beautiful club
called Paradis du Liban. The orchestra
which played for her was the National Radio Orchestra,
and the dinner club was located next to President Bourgiba's
palace. It was very elegant with an artistic presentation,
the new magency music was superbly played by the orchestra and
it was always a thrill to receive that special applause every
night when she placed the sword on her head.
Now a new project caught her imagination which would require
all the artistic skills and resources at her disposal. She would
create an avante-guarde, rock-video-format film using Middle
Eastern images to weave a fantasy. This would be a dance sequence
cut with images of dancers from history, queens, and goddesses.She
became the executive producer, which in this case meant doing
everything. This film took over her life for two years. It included
traveling to Cairo three times, having original music written
and recorded, scouting locations, meeting ministers, getting
permission from all the various agencies, and finding a local
production company. She also designed and made all the costumes,
created the props, and planned the shots.
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