Tunisian singer and actor Habiba Msika was a legendary figure in Tunis’s 1920s art scene. Msika’s bold nonconformity and tragic fate resonated deeply with her contemporaries, and fascinate me now: I marvel at how she subverted the patriarchy of her time, though violence born of that very misogyny would one day kill her.
Born in 1899 or 1900 to a family of musicians living in Tunis’s hara (or Jewish quarter), Msika began her musical training at a young age. She was instructed by her aunt, Leila Sfez, who had herself been a diva and cabaret owner. Under Sfez’s tutelage, Msika learned classical Andalusian music (Maalouf) and oud. But it was as a cabaret singer, dancer, and actor that she would become something like the Madonna of her time.
A rebellious soul, Msika crossed boundaries in all that she did: she insisted on playing male roles in her theatrical career (sensing they’d give more range to her talent), and is said to have been the first singer in the country to mix dance and song, a practice that electrified her performances. Despite furious attacks from the conservative press, she sang dozens of songs reveling in the pleasures of free love. The song “Ala Srir Ennoum,” which translates to “In My Bed,” is one of them.
The forthright Msika also aligned herself with the emerging Tunisian nationalist movement. She became the main artistic collaborator of the theater director Mohamed Bourguiba, whose brother Habib Bourguiba would become the first president of independent Tunisia in 1957. With Mohamed Bourguiba, Msika adapted classic European plays into Arabic, and developed original theater productions infused with revolutionary sentiment. In one infamous performance of Les Martyrs de la Liberté, Msika appeared onstage wrapped in a Tunisian flag, crying “Vive la liberté!” The French police stormed the second performance, arrested the cast, and censored the play.
Offstage, Msika’s life was just as dramatic. She was often referred to as l’aimée de tous, or Habibat al-Kul—a play on her first name that translates to beloved by all. It’s said that she counted princes of Egypt, Iraq, and Tunisia among her lovers. And she presided over a devoted fan club, a group of male admirers called the Asker Ellil (Soldiers of the Night), who sometimes provided her with financial support. Even so, she amassed a personal fortune through her performances, and was able to achieve financial independence.
Tragically, it was from the Asker Ellil that Msika’s murderer emerged. A much older man named Eliyahu Mimouni became obsessed with her and vowed he’d make her his wife. For five years, he tried to woo her with endless gifts, including a villa she refused to set foot in. Finally, after Msika announced that she would marry her long-time partner Raoul Merle, the enraged Mimouni entered her home one night and burned her to death. She was thirty years old.
This song, our rendition of “Ala Srir Ennoum,” is an homage to her free and defiant spirit.
Sources
- Baccar, Selma, dir. La danse du feu (film). 1994.
- Bessis, Sophie. Les valeureuses: Cinq Tunisiennes dans l’histoire. Tunis: Éditions Elyzad, 2017.
- Various Artists. Mélodies Judéo-Arabes d’autrefois (album). Blue Silver, 1997.
Further Reading
- Faivre d’Arcier, Jeanne. Habiba Messika: La brûlure du péché. Paris: Belfond, 1997.
- Hamrouni, Ahmed. Habiba Messika: Artiste accomplie. Tunis: L’Univers du Livre, 2007.
- Riahi, Jessie. Cantique pour Habiba: La vie tumultueuse de la chanteuse Habiba Messika. Paris: Wern, 1997.
- Silver, Christopher. Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music Across Twentieth-Century North Africa. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2022.
- Silver, Christopher. “The Life and Death of North Africa’s First Superstar.” History Today, April 24, 2018.