Nourhane:  A Forgotten Singer, Rediscovered by Her Granddaughter 

Photo property of May Kassem.

Not every singer or musician we’ve featured at Midwest Mahjar immigrated to the United States from Greater Syria or the countries that had once been a part of Bilad al-Sham. Some, in fact, may have never come to the United States at all. Because a host of Alamphon, Arabphon, and Alkawakeb singles had previous lives on Baidaphon or other labels pressed for the Mashriq, these same musicians developed a fan base of listeners who settled in the US, but travelled quite frequently between the Mashriq and the United States. Recording artists like Um Kulthum, Fairuz, Asmahan, Nour Al Hoda, Farid Al-Atrash, and Mohamed Abdel Wahab moved voluminous numbers of 78 rpm records in the United States. One Alamphon 78 rpm that puzzled us for considerable time is Alamphon #A3134 1-2 “Yahwaidalak” by a Nourhane. Most attempts to locate Nourhane only led us to the contemporary singer who uses the same name. When we compared her voice to Nour El-Hoda, it was clear Nourhane was someone else. Then a few things happened. First, we located the Alamphon advertisement for our Nourhane single and another imported and repressed by Alamphon. We then read about the 2016 release of the film Nourhane, A Child’s Dream by Lebanese filmmaker, teacher, radio producer, composer, and screenwriter May Kassem. Was the subject of the film and the Nourhane singer on our Alamphon disc one and the same? 

Photo property of May Kassem.

As it turns out, she is. Better yet, May Kassem is Nourhane’s granddaughter. We reached out to May and eventually had the opportunity to view both a trailer and the entire film Nourhane: A Child’s Dream. What we learn from the film is this… 

Nourhane was a stage name for Kheirieh Jarkas who was commonly went by the name her family called her -Kheirieh. Her grandparents descended from Circassians who had survived the Russo-Circassian War. The war spanned from latter parts of the eighteenth century through the first sixty-five years of the nineteenth century. Kheirieh’s family survived the war with Russia only to face genocide and expulsion through by the Russian government. Over 1.5 million Circassians faced systematic killing or expulsion in the last years if the war and the time following. Kheirieh’s great grandparents were, like thousands of others, relocated within the Ottoman Empire. Approximately, three-quarters of the Circassian population perished in the Circassian Genocide. Today, Turkey, Russia, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt have the largest Circassian populations. 

Kheirieh Jarkas was born in 1922 in Damascus - registered in the civil registries   of Quneitra, a village with a concentration of Circassians in the Golan Heights. Less than a year after her birth, her father died and by seven, her mother’s death left her orphaned. Some of her earliest memories included listening to the records of Um Kulthum at a neighbor’s house and singing during her grandmother’s musical gatherings with friends. One of the first songs she memorized and sang at her grandmother's istiqbal was Um Kulthum's "Illi Habek ya Hanah." By 14 years old, she was married to a significantly older man who was a bibliophile, spoke at least eleven languages, and received a scholarship to study English Literature in Cairo, Egypt. In 1937, Nourhane had her first child and a second child in 1941. The loss of her first child, Ousamma, due to the unavailability of funds to treat him when he fell ill, made Kheirieh determined to make sure Ziad, her second child, was well provided for. 

Delayed scholarship payments from the Syrian government, three months past due, prompted Kheirieh to take on work singing and as a movie extra in an effort to earn extra money. First Kheirieh began to sing under her stage name – Nourhane. The name is otherwise meaningless, but it combined the names of two well-known Arab singers Nour Al-Hoda (Alexandra Badran) and Asmahan (Amal El-Atrash). Sadly, Asmahan’s career was cut short by her death in 1944. Nourhane appeared in her first film, The Good and the Evil in 1945.  The film was directed by Hassan Hilmi and co-starred Mohamed Salman. A second film followed, directed by Ibrahim Hilmi “A Son of the East” with Madiha Yousri and Bshara Wakim.

Her late nights shooting at the film studios provoked her husband Kassem Kassem’s jealousy, pushing him to burn her dresses, tear up her set photos, and complain about her late nights at work. Felling stifled, Nourhane decided to move out, along with her son Ziad, divorced Kassem Kassem, and start a new life. 

Advertisement for Nourhan's two singles on Alamphon. Caravan 22 April 1954. Courtesy of Newspapers.com

Although frustrated by the lack of professionalism and expertise in film among those with whom she had worked, Kheirieh appeared in one more film “Leila in Iraq” in 1949 – also alongside Mohamed Salman who was by then her husband. After “Leila in Iraq” which re-iterated her disappointment in the films she had appeared in, Nourhane consecrated herself to singing on stage and through airwaves – at the national radio stations of Lebanon and Syria, mainly, for a while.
Concerts, radio, and recording now dominated Kheirieh’s life, and allowed her to provide for Ziad.

She also gave many benefit concerts for Palestine. As Nourhan, 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. As a singer with a particularly beautiful voice, remarkable for its warmth and range, she met and befriended Farid El-Atrash, Mohamed Abdul-Wahad, Mohamed Abdel Mutaleb and especially Mohamed Abdel-Karim.

Nourhan, "Yahweidalak" #3134 Alamphon was one of two singles released on Alamphon. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection.

https://youtu.be/fzT2xL3tGUQ

 

Nourhan, "Yagaebeen" #3135 Alamphon was one of two singles released on Alamphon. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection.

https://youtu.be/iU--SB2iKI8

On the personal side of things, Nourhane’s second marriage lasted five years. While Salman reportedly loved Kheirieh immensely, he also had a gambling problem, which had repercussions on the income she was attempting to amass in order to care for her son and his education.

Nourhane eventually left Mohamed Salman, whom she described as a ‘fun-loving being who could transmit his love of life and amuse just about anyone’; the reason was his gambling and the imperative to care for her son. Nourhane decided to invest whatever savings she had into opening up a women’s hair salon in Damascus, “Salon Nour”. Her notoriety brought her countless customers.

That is how Nourhane stepped away from the stage and radio for good, and walked away from it all. 

 Kheirieh had wanted Ziad to work alongside her and sent him to Paris for training with L’Oréal. He came back resolute to enter university and pursue studies in Economics. Kheirieh closed her salon and moved to Beirut in order to be by Ziad’s side as he entered Beirut’s American University.

At AUB, Ziad studied Economics graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1966, and a master’s degree in 1969. He got his PhD in 1974 also in Economics through the Université Saint Joseph de Beyrouth and Université de Lyon.
He then got a job at the United Nations Economic and Social Office in Beirut where he met Fatima Sbaity in December 1970. Ziad and Fatima had three children – Hana, May, and Ramzi.

Nourhane, now once again Kheirieh, never spoke of her past again, and raised the three grandchildren on music, song, a love for the arts and a passion for food.
It was only later, when May had graduated from university and had started making films, that she unearthed her grandmother’s past, a path she had been following unknowingly all her life.

Had May not made her documentary film about her grandmother, it is likely Nourhane’s story would have been lost to history and to us all. Kheirieh Jarkas passed February, 2022 at the age of one-hundred.

See May Kassem's film Nourhane: A Child's Dream (2016)

Richard M. Breaux

© Midwest Mahjar