***NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES*** [Sorry, will take too long to put them on!]
سلطانة الطرب. فيلم مصري عربي كامل. بطولة شريفة فاضل. حياة منيرة المهدية
'SULTANA AL TARAB' or 'QUEEN OF SONG' as a FULL FIL .Egyptian Singer SHARIFA FADEL plays Ottoman Singer MOUNIRA EL MAHIDIYA [1885-1965] in the 1978 film 'SULTANA AL TARAB' ['QUEEN OF SONG']...
MOUNIRA EL MAHIDIYA was an important pivotal singer in Egyptian Culture. MOUNIRA was part of THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, part of TURKISH MUSIC in Egypt. However, the ARABIC versions of this OTTOMAN MUSIC had been changed to fit Arabian tastes and performance preferences. This is why MOUNIRA EL MAHIDIYA'S music is such an important bridge between TURKISH and ARAB CULTURE.
EGYPTIAN singer and actress MOUNIRA EL MAHDEYA had been EDUCATED by NUNS and SPOKE FRENCH. She LEARNED to SING ITALIAN OPERAS which became POPULAR in CAIRO. Prior to MAHDEYA, CHRISTIAN or JEWISH ACTRESSES performed on the STAGE. MOUNIRA was the FIRST MUSLIM ACTRESS. She BEGAN to RECORD GRAMAPHONE RECORDS of the EGYPTIAN-STYLE OTTOMAN MUSIC in ARABIC. The SINGER even PERFORMED for TURKISH REPUBLIC leader: KEMAL ATATÜRK [1881-1938].
MOUNIRA EL MAHDEYA paralleled her AMERICAN contemporary socialite GERTRUDE STEIN [1874-1946] whose HIGH SOCIETY PARTIES connected and promoted NEW ARTS like PAINTER: PICASSO [1881-1973] and writer HEMMINGWAY [1899-1961]. Both of these ARTSY WOMEN CHANGED SOCIETY bringing CHANGE, FEMINISM, WRITING, PAINTING and MUSIC by INTRODUCING these BOHEMIANS to EACH OTHER and to their OUTER SOCIETY. Curious PARALLEL so far away EGYPT to USA!
It must be remembered that MOUNIRA EL MAHIDIYA'S career was at the time of rise of the GRAMAPHONE and later the CINEMA. A wide audience of ARAB COUNTRIES had to be accomodated from EGYPT because CAIRO was the only ARABIAN city with western INFRASTRUCTURE in place at the turn of the 20th Century able to produce commercial Arabic popular music and cinema.
MOUNIRA'S style was steeped in OTTOMAN MUSIC but that 'oriental' music had to be EGYPTIAN-ISED in FORM and STRUCTURE by composers like SAYED DARWISH [1892-1923]. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayed_Darwish
The TURKISH music was changed by the EGYPTIAN composers thus:METRE [number of pulses per bar] was changed as it affected PHRASE LENGTHS, EASE of PERFORMANCE, EASE of LISTENING and COMPREHENSION of LYRICS. OTTOMANS often preferred IRREGULAR METRE of 5/7/9/10/11 etc. EGYPTIANS changed the METRE to REGULAR 3/4/6 pulses per bar.
SONG FORM and STRUCTURE can be IRREGULAR in OTTOMAN MUSIC, due mainly to use of IRREGULAR METRE and OTTOMAN preference for ORCHESTRAL SOUND rather than listening to LYRICS, which EGYPTIANS tended to appreciate but found difficult when musical phrases and overall FORM were IRREGULAR and ASYMMETRICAL.
SCALE [sets of notes to make a melody] were more STANDARDISED by EGYTIANS to ARABIC SCALE rather than the sets of QUARTER NOTES with history in ASIA from THE OTTOMANS. Again, the simplification and comprehension of performance of vocal music may have been the aim.
MUSICAL PHRASES were also STANDARDISED by EGYPTIANS. This was achieved by using regular METRE. Using IRREGULAR METRE tends to make PHRASES sit 'awkwardly' in time requiring use of IRREGULAR PHRASING of long and short PHRASES to make up 'missing' beats of IRREGULAR metre.OTTOMANS, tending to be attracted to MUSICAL SOUND-SCAPES appreciated these unpredictable features, but the EGYPTIANS tend to prefer LYRICAL MUSIC with focus upon WORDS, so STANDARD SIMPLE PHRASES were a necessary modernisation of the TURKISH model.
Singer SHARIFA FADEL had obviously listened carefully to 78rpm records of MOUNIRA EL MAHIDIYA singing and painstakingly learned to imitate her style with skill. The songs of 'SULTANA TARAB' film may be the finest performances of her career?
MOUNIRA EL MAHDEYA died in 1965. She was ECLIPSED by the 'young upstart', THE FIRST LADY OF ARABIC MUSIC, OUM KALTHOUM [1904-1975]. There was reported rivalry between the two DIVAS. But OUM KALTHOUM was the same OTTOMAN LEGACY of TURKISH MUSIC in ARABIC that was, in many ways, MORE TURKISH than MOUNIRA in its LOW CONTRALTO FEMALE VOCAL that is ALIEN to EGYPT but found in even MODERN TURKISH ART MUSIC like MUAZZEZ ERSOY [b. 1958] and FOLK ARTIST BELKIS AKKALE [b. 1954].
