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Tahia kisses her teacher Badia for the last time.
Tahia dancing in a genuine costume of that era.
Tahia dancing in costume and pleasing the crowd.
Tahia dancing in her legendary days.
Tahia in her younger days.
Tahia was a very beautiful and talented star.
I wish to share with the world, my story of Tahia Karyooka, an incredible woman! May she rest in Peace!
Tahia was booked to perform for thousands of soldiers in Amman, Jordan and
Ramala, she also performed for a few generals and for King Hussein. Traveling with Tahia was Najat El Sagira, a singer named Rajaa Abdo and Hassan El Malji, an Egyptian comedian. I was working at a radio station, and they were scheduled to practice with a number of musicians who were working at the station. The president of the radio station gave me a chance to perform with them and it was an extremely good opportunity for me as I was the only female artist in Jordan at the time. They were staying at the Ramala Hotel and it was required that they practice with our musicians, so one of the musicians and I went to meet with them. This was an actual dream come true for me. Their engagement in Jordan was only for one week, so I was very fortunate to get this break to meet them!
Hassan El Malji liked me immediately, and it seemed as though he would not
keep his eyes off of me. He sat next to me and said, “We have heard that you are
the only female dancer and singer in Jordan, can you sing with us tonight?” I told
him, “I am already booked to sing, however, I will not dance because you already
have the greatest dancer with you!”
Later that night I was with the rest of the performing group behind the stage
area. It was a big party. Tahia danced like she never danced before. Everyone
appeared shocked when they saw her because it was her first trip to, and appearance in, Jordan. Hassan told some jokes, and then I performed. They announced me:
His Majesty just smiled at me as I sang a very traditional Jordanian song. I was supposed to sing only one song, however the crowd just kept saying, “We want Kamelia, more, more!” I looked at the musicians, and fortunately they seemed to know what I wanted, and since they were our musicians I did not have to practice with them. My second song was for King Hussein, and the army went out of their mind. When I finished singing, I went behind the stage and Najat said, “Wow, you really have a following in Jordan!” Tahia said, “Congratulations!” as she patted me on both of my shoulders and Hassan came to me and told me that he would like to speak with me after the party. I thought Hassan El Malji had business on his mind, but surprisingly, when Hassan spoke with me, he told me that he was falling in love with me. Rajaa Abdo overheard him and told him, “Stay away from her! She is too young for you.” She was right. He was 40 years old, but I guess in my mind I wanted a nice break.
The party finished about 1 a.m. There were a few Cadillacs waiting for us to
take us back to the hotel, but it was too late for me to go back to Jerusalem, so
Rajaa Abdo told me, “You can stay with us in our hotel. No use going back and
forth. At the end of the week you can go home.”
Hassan kept bothering me with his insistence that he must speak more with me.
After one o’clock in the morning, Tahia told him that he had better leave me alone.
Rajaa Abdo had three daughters of her own in Egypt, and they were young like me at that time. Tahia told Rajaa, “I will sleep next to her, Tahia has a gun!” She put me against the wall, and she slept on the other side with her gun under her pillow. Rajaa was a very nice lady, and the next day she told me, “If you ever come to Egypt again, you are welcome to stay at my house.” She also told me that I would have a great future and that her advice to me was not to rush things. She said, “Your time will come, I can see it in your eyes. You have powerful eyes and that is going to lead lots of men like Hassan to you.” She also advised me not to give myself to them.
Rajaa Abdo had made countless movies and records, and she was indeed a great
singer, and a real star...a legend. She was in her 40’s and extremely beautiful and had such a marvelous smile. The night I saw Tahia dance she seemed to dance greater than she had danced in the movies. She seemed so free on the stage...she almost appeared to be floating across the stage.
When she finished dancing, Tahia sat down on a chair. She seemed very tired,
and she was breathing rapidly. She asked me to get her some water, and she had a small bottle of liquid medicine from which she took a quick sip. She called to Rajaa Abdo saying that her asthma was acting up. Then she asked for another chair so she could put her feet on it. I came close to her and gave her a towel to wipe the sweat from her face, and I told her that she was great and how I admired her performance. I also told her that I wanted to be "just like her." She said, “Darling, when you sing and dance, be sure to keep smiling and use those big eyes of yours, and you will indeed get anything you want...just like I did.” I said that I would certainly take her advice. I continued watching Tahia practice for the next four days, and the main things which I learned from observing her were the proper facial expression, moods, and other intricacies to use while dancing...especially the smile, and even the flirting!
Tahia used to smile a lot, and open her mouth while doing it. This was no
doubt because she had asthma. However, the directors and others in the audience used to tell her that hers was a very sexy smile! Perhaps that is why she did so well and made it big.
The week together went fast and the time soon came to say goodbye to
everyone. Hassan El Malji passed me a note which I put in my pocket. The owner of the theater came by to ask me if I would like to go with them to the airport. Of course, I said, “Yes!” and during the short trip I sat next to Rajaa Abdo and Tahia Karyooka.
When I got back to the hotel to pick up a few items which I had left there, I
took the note out of my pocket. It was in a small envelope. Inside I found 25
dinars for transportation to Syria, and also a note to meet him at Naema
Escandarani’s. He stated that Naema was like his sister, and that she would take care of me and would send me on to Beirut where he was currently living.
But back to Tahia...she started dancing when she was very young. She began
at a night club called the "Badia Masabni Casino Opera." When she started, she worked for very little money, and her real stage name was "Badawia Muhamed Kareen," before she changed it to "Tahia." She also worked with some very famous singers, including; Fareed El Atrash and Hikmat Fahmi, Sofia Hilmi, Fatima Rushdi, Najib El Rihani, and more. All of these had gotten their start at Muhamed Ali Street, then the Badia Masabni, and then went on from there.
Tahia was born in a very small and poor village called Al Esmaelia. Her real
name was Badawia Muhamed Kareen. She decided to leave her small village in search of wealth and glory, and went first to Cairo, Egypt. She had big dreams. Her family was very poor, and I think that she ran away to escape from the family. Of course, she was not unlike other young girls who ran away from problems at home.
When Tahia first started dancing, at Badia’s night club, they gave her the name “Tahia.” The first movie she danced in Tahia did a Karyooka routine, and from that performance on the newspapers and movies added “Karyooka” onto Tahia to form her new name, "Tahia Karyooka."
Tahia appeared in more than 300 movies and on more than 200 stages. She was truly admired by all the people, especially King Farouk. She danced in his castle for him and his guests more than 500 times. The first two movies which she made were the ones which really made her famous. The first one was called "Aheb El Baladi," which means, “I love the Baladi,” and the second movie was "Aheb El Galat," which means “I love the mistakes.”
Tahia hired a large number of people to work with her every night at her own
theater. It was extremely successful for several years. Tickets were rather
“pricey,” but people were paying the price. Perhaps she was just lucky, but Tahia was not very successful in her love life. She was married more than 27 times, but she never had any children.
When Jamal Abed El Naser created a revolution in Egypt, he surrounded King Farouk with thousands of soldiers and took him from his castle with all his family, servants and guests. Jamal, along with 4 or 5 generals, were quite successful in this operation which placed King Farouk’s castle in their hands. And all of King Farouk’s friends and lovers went to jail, including Tahia Karyooka. In fact, Jamal put her in jail for 30 years for back taxes. At that time, if you were friendly with the King, you didn’t have to pay taxes. Because of this particular problem, Tahia went to jail and most of her properties were placed in the hands of the new government.
But Tahia was very important to the movie business and the people. When
Tahia was imprisoned, many of the movie makers stopped producing movies and many of the theaters closed their doors because they wanted Tahia released. Finally, they settled her case and she was released. Of course, just like in every business, some dancers truly adored Tahia, however, there were also some who were happy to hear all the bad news about her. In fact, there were some who deliberately started some ugly rumors about her. But in all this, Tahia just seemed to get stronger and stronger in her work, and got more job offers than she could handle.
“Lucky in her work, but unlucky in love” was the way things seemed to work out in Tahia’s case. She was never successful in her marriages, and she didn’t take care of her wealth. She never saved for tomorrow, and when she became older, and a little heavier, no one called her for work. The last news I heard about Tahia was when I was in Cairo, Egypt and it was said that she had fallen in love with a man much younger than herself. Apparently, she had signed her two apartment houses, her land and all of her money over to him.
It was said that this relationship lasted for only a short time, and that one
night the young man kicked her out with only her clothes on her body, plus her purse and a small book with some telephone numbers. Tahia managed to call one of her friends whom she trusted, a dancer by the name of Thuraya Hehmi. Tahia gave Thuraya lots of opportunities for jobs, and had helped her during previous years, so Thuraya did not forget Tahia. She took her to her home, and Tahia continued to live with Thuraya for a while and she helped Tahia get back on her feet again. Eventually, Thuraya started calling directors, TV stations, and theaters for Tahia, looking for small jobs playing roles such as a mother, or grandmother.
Tahia saved some money as time went by and soon managed to purchase a small
apartment in Dogi close to the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt. She had no car or any savings.
In 1990, I went to Cairo, Egypt and visited Tahia. She was aging and had become very heavy. In 1995, I went back to the same apartment and found the location very dirty and the elevator did not work any longer. I had to walk to the 6th floor. I rang the bell and two young girls opened the door. They told me that Tahia was ill and that she was sleeping, and said that I should return the next day around 11:00 a.m. I went back the next morning and one of the girls told me that Tahia had just fallen in the bathtub and that she was so heavy they could not get her out. A neighbor was called from next door and with her help, they were able to get Tahia out of the tub. I cried because it hurt me to see her like this. I would have preferred to remember Tahia as she used to be...when she was a great performer.
I left Tahia a card which I was carrying. I wanted to give it to her in person,
but I changed my mind. I would pray for her to have better health. The girls also
told me that Tahia gave them permission to take all of her pictures off the walls and from inside the cabinets and store them because “she had given herself to God,” and quit the business for good.
“God bless you, Tahia, I really admire you and love you. Thank you Tahia
for my success, it came from what I learned from you.”
Note: “Tahia was never my teacher. For many years after I came to the
States and could not speak English very well, I did not know that my feelings for
Tahia were expressed with the word, “Idol,” so I referred to her as my teacher.
She was never a teacher professionally, although I learned so much watching her
performances. I used to watch her dancing live in person, but I learned of her
talents for the first time from the movies and I then began to read about her in all the popular magazines. I have watched over 200 of Tahia’s movies.
On September 20, 1999 I received the horrible news that Tahia had died and I cried all day as I prayed for her. She will be missed by Millions of devoted fans, especially me!”
The very first time I met Tahia was at the movies. After seeing her acting
and dancing on the screen, I wanted to be just like her. I had made Tahia my idol
that day. Every time a movie came to Jordan and Tahia’s name was on the marquee, I just had to go and see the movie. Because of the strong impression left with me, when I grew older I used to imitate her and Sammia Gamal and other singers and dancers.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen...Kamelia of Jordan.” Honestly, everyone stood up and clapped, and clapped, and clapped. This was not because of my reputation, but because my stage name carried the name of Jordan.
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