Synopsis of Salamah
Synopsis of Umm Kulthum's film Salama (1945) - from Professor Virginia Danielson's dissertation:
Shaping tradition in Arabic song: The career and repertory of Umm Kulthum
by Danielson, Virginia Louise, Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1991 (available online via Proquest)
"Two of Umm Kulthum's most popular films were released during the 1940s. The plots and music of both, "Salamah" and "Fatmah" fell in line with the populist direction of the rest of the repertory. "Salamah" was almost entirely the work of Zakaria Ahmad and Bayram al-Tunsi and Zakaria contributed to her other films as well."
"Released in 1945, "Salamah" featured a singing slave girl once again; but this time in the song texts and dialogue, Bayram al-Tunsi attempted a realism new to her films: they were cast in an Arabic dialect commonly associated with the Bedouin. 15 "Salamah" offered a tour de force of Arabic song. In addition to several ughniyat that became very popular such as "Ghannl li Shwayya Shwayya," Salamah sang a muwashshah, a qasidah, a religious mawwal, a riddle song, and a lament similar in musical style to the songs of caravan drivers. She also read several lines from the Qur'an. Umm Kulthum was able to display her wide-ranging skills in all of these genres, while portraying an entertaining but virtuous daughter of the Arabs." (p. 172)
"Salamah: The slave girl, Salamah, raised in Medina, was known for her beautiful voice. She and her friend Shuq belonged to a religious man of moderate means, al-Shaykh Abu al-Wafa, and his wife. Salamah and Shuq shepherded their flocks and took care of their house. Salamah had two hopes in life, one to become a famous singer and to enjoy a life of luxury and ease within the walls of palaces, and the second to marry her pious neighbor, the handsome Abd al-Rahman al-Qass. When al-Shaykh Abu al-Wafa realized her predilection to song, he sold Salamah and Shuq to a trader who, in turn, sold them to Abu al-Wafa's wealthy and debauched neighbor, Ibn Suhayl. In his house, Salamah found herself performing for the companies of drunken, shameless and silly men who attended her new master's boistrous gatherings. She realized that her beautiful voice made her prey to these men and that the luxury to which she had aspired had come at the expense of the dignity and piety of her previous home. She and Shuq sought help from Abd al-Rahman al-Qass to escape this environment by any means possible, but her plea was too late. Ibn Suhayl's possessions, including Salamah, had been sold in payment of his debts. Salamah moved once again, this time to a slave trader named Ibn Abl Rumahah. Abd al-Rahman went to buy her from the trader only to find that she had been sold again, shortly before his arrival, to the Caliph in Damascus. Abd al-Rahman was overcome with hopelessness of ever seeing her again after she became a possession of the Caliph and volunteered for the army. In dispair at this news, Salamah was only able to sing the saddest of laments for the Caliph. Learning her history, he gave her to Abd al-Rahman who, by that time, had been mortally wounded in battle. Upon his arrival at - the Caliph's court, he died in her arms." (p. 506)