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Nourhane

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Singer, Actress, Stage, Radio, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s
Nourhane
File:Nourhane Blue paint.jpg
Background information
Birth nameKheirieh Jarkas
Born1922
Damascus, Syria
Died(2022-02-28)February 28, 2022
Beirut, Lebanon
Musical artist

Nourhane (1922-2022) was a singer and actress in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s in the Arab World. Nourhane (whose real name is Kheirieh Jarkas) was born in Damascus in 1922 to parents of Circassian origin, Ali and Maryam.

Personal life

She started singing at a young age, memorizing songs she heard on the radio and record-players, and reciting them at all-women traditional musical gatherings (istiqbal) that her mother and her friends would organize. One of her favourite songs, and one she often sang was Um Kulthum's "Ili habek ya hanah" (transl. Happy is the one who loves you).

An orphan at the age of 7, she was sent to a boarding school where she was seen as a natural leader due to her wit, intelligence, and fearless nature. She was married at the age of 14 to a Lebanese man, a teacher, linguist, and translator, Kassem Kassem, who mastered 11 languages and who had settled in Aleppo to teach. Nourhane encouraged him to further his career by applying to a scholarship to study English literature in Cairo which he got. Along with their son, they moved to Cairo.

Career

For economic reasons, and due to the shortcomings of Kassem's stipend, Nourhane started working as an extra on movies (notably "Honey Moon" (1945) starring Farid Al Atrash where she can be seen sitting at a table, listening to the legendary singer and actor). Her professional name, Nourhane, was made up of the first part of the name of Lebanese singer Nour El Hoda and the last part of the name of Syrian singer and princess Asmahan.

From that point on, she met musicians, singers, composers, actors, directors, and producers, and eventually she started singing and acting professionally.

She acted in three feature films "Good and Evil", "Son of the Orient", (1946) and "Leila in Iraq" (1949).

Through the first film “Good and Evil”, she met Mohamed Salman, who would eventually become her second husband.

She sang on stage and through radio stations in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Kuwait, and more. The Syrian national radio station in Damascus holds hundreds of her recordings in perfect condition. Some of the composers who wrote music for her to sing were Mohamed Mohsen , Philemon Wehbe , Mohamed Abdelkarim, Mohamed Abdelwahab , Salim Helou and Wadih Al-Safi . The 6th number of the Syrian National Radio Station magazine in its first year, entitled "Radio Diffusion Syrienne", mentions several weekly evening program broadcasts featuring Nourhane. On November 25th, the evening program beginning at 6:30PM features Nourhane singing "A little bit of my heart remains" composed by Mohamed Mohsen with lyrics by Omar Halabi, as well "Why do I love you?" composed by Abdel Wahab Karam with words by Ibrahim Kamel. On November 30th 1953 starting with Nourhane at 9h30pm singing "I called you my love" by Mohamed Mohsen with lyrics by Abdel Jalil Wehbe - followed by a 15 minute recorded improvisation by the great buzuq virtuoso and Nourhane's dear friend Mohamed AbdelKarim. The same magazine also features a large portrait of Nourhane on its cover

From her personal archive, another issue of the same magazine features a portrait of Nourhane on its cover.

  • Nourhane on cover of Radio Diffusion Syrienne Magazine, November 1953 Nourhane on cover of Radio Diffusion Syrienne Magazine, November 1953
  • Nourhane on cover of Radio Diffusion Syrienne Magazine, May 1958 Nourhane on cover of Radio Diffusion Syrienne Magazine, May 1958

Since she was disappointed with the quality of the films she appeared in, although they may have had a certain degree of commercial success, she decided to opt out of any additional filmmaking adventures.

File:Advertisement for Nourhan's two singles on Alamphon.PNG
Advertisement for Nourhan's two singles on Alamphon.

As the American researcher and educator Richard Melvin Breaux writes "As Nourhane, Kheirieh continued to sing on stage and on radio, she recorded and through Farid El-Atrash, her music made its way state side and to Alamphon Records’ Farid Alam al-Din". Nourhane's records and her voice therefore made it to the United States.

She ended her career in the early 1960s and opened up a hair salon in the area of Arnous in Damascus. She had wanted her son Ziad to work with her in the salon. She therefore sent him to L’Oréal’s in Paris for training. Upon his return, Ziad decided to enter the American University of Beirut to study Economics. Nourhane closed down “Salon Nour” and moved with him to Beirut. After completing his studies, Ziad was hired by the United Nations Office in Beirut where he met his future wife Fatima. Nourhane continued to lived with her son, his wife and their three children: Hana, May and Ramzi.

Her granddaughter, May Kassem made a film narrating her life story entitled “Nourhane, a child’s dream” which came out in 2016 .

Nourhane lived to be a hundred and passed away, at home, surrounded by her family, on the 28th of February 2022 in Beirut – after listening to one of her favourite songs by Um Kulthum – which happened to be playing on television that night – Fat al Maad (The rendez-vous has passed)

Futher reading

Books

Articles

References

  1. interview with Nourhane on Radio Lebanon 98.5FM - 'al Zaman al Jamil with Marwan Bou Nasredine' 2011 - archives of the Lebanese National Radio Station
  2. Um Kulthum sings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hnrmi-nqns
  3. interview featured in the documentary "Nourhane, a child's dream" (2016) Dir. May Kassem (72min) https://vimeo.com/285858153
  4. Honey Moon the film https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3fbwsb Nourhane appears @00:17:43
  5. interview with Nourhane on Al-Zaman al Jamil radio show on the Lebanese National Radio Station with Marwan Bou Nasredine
  6. Good and Evil (1946 release) (shot in 1945) https://elcinema.com/work/1594491/
  7. Son of the Orient (1945) https://elcinema.com/work/1001512/
  8. Leila in Iraq (1949) https://elcinema.com/work/1002586/
  9. Leila in Iraq full film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYrgj2FYKYE
  10. Nourhane and Mohamed Salman sing together in "Leila in Iraq" https://vimeo.com/340627877
  11. "Ya Om Al Ouyoun al Kahila" https://vimeo.com/340870357
  12. "Hajarni wou Rah" https://vimeo.com/340227265
  13. https://soundcloud.com/user-605761208/8sl2js68fguf?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
  14. "Ishtaqna ya helou" https://vimeo.com/340870144
  15. "Ya Zeno" https://vimeo.com/340870072
  16. Radio Diffusion Syrienne Magazine, Syrian National Radio Station Magazine, Damascus, Syria - Number 6, November 1953
  17. Radio Diffusion Syrienne Magazine, Syrian National Radio Station Magazine, Damascus, Syria - Number 88, May 1958
  18. Article in Midwest Mahjar - April 1st, 2022 "Nourhane: A Forgotten Singer, Rediscovered by Her Granddaughter" by Richard Melvin Breaux
  19. DOCUMENTARY ABOUT NOURHANE: "NOURHANE, A CHILD'S DREAM" (Dir. May Kassem - 2016 - 72min) - https://vimeo.com/285858153
  20. Um Kulthum sings "Fat al Maad" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sNVUaW61hI
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