50 Years On, Umm Kulthum Is Still The Voice Of The Arab World

50 Years On, Umm Kulthum Is Still The Voice Of The Arab World

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Half a century after her death, Umm Kulthum’s singular voice still echoes through busy streets in Egypt, across time-worn cafes in Iraq, and in millions of homes from Morocco to Oman.

“As long as people listen to music, there will be Umm Kulthum”, said Abu Ahmed, the manager of a Cairo cafe named after the Arab world’s most revered singer.

As visitors to the historic bazaar the cafe is housed in peered in from outside, “She still lives in every song and every note,” he told AFP.

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Sepia-toned photographs of the icon adorn the walls of Abu Ahmed’s cafe, alongside posters from her concerts.

As her voice in her most famous ballad, “Enta Omri” (“You’re My Life”), rose to a crescendo, conversation around a nearby table fell to a hush.

“Umm Kulthum is the voice of the nation”, Aya Khamis, 36, whispered as she sipped her tea.

On a wooden stall just outside, a vendor laid out tiny figurines of Umm Kulthum and her orchestra.

On January 28, 2025, people gather in the Khan al-Khalili historical district of Cairo to celebrate her 50th birthday next month at the Umm Kulthum cafe, which is named after the late Egyptian singer, songwriter, and actress. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Umm Kulthum herself, wearing her signature scarf and sunglasses, and musicians dressed as the qanun and the oud, who performed miniature versions of classical instruments.

“These are my bestsellers”, said Shadi Said, 37, holding up a figurine of the singer.

Disguised as a boy

More than 1, 000 kilometres (600 miles) away, the same music poured out of Baghdad’s own Umm Kulthum cafe — open since 1970, five years before the singer’s death at 76 plunged the Arab world into mourning.

On January 27, 2025, people squat along al-Rashid Street in Baghdad’s historic city of Baghdad at the Umm Kulthum cafe, which opened in 1970 and is named after the late Egyptian-American music icon Umm Kulthum. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

The Baghdad cafe held a ceremony for bereaved fans like Iraqi engineer Youssef Hamad, who was far from Cairo’s state funeral.

Now 77 and retired, Hamad told AFP he still comes to the same cafe every day to listen to Umm Kulthum’s hours-long concerts.

Another cafe-goer, Khazaal Abu Ali, struggled to put his love for her into words.

“She once sang ‘ if a day passes without seeing you, it can’t count towards my lifetime’. That is how I feel”, the 83-year-old said, his eyes tearing up.

“A day without her voice is lost,” she says.

Umm Kulthum, who was born in a small Nile Delta village in 1898, rose from obscurity to become the most well-known voice in the Arab world.

Her father, an imam, recognised her talent early on, but fearing the ire of early 20th-century Egyptian society, disguised her as a boy so she could perform in public.

Her full-bodied voice and magnetic presence soon captivated audiences, and in the 1930s she moved to Cairo.

Her music incorporated grand orchestral arrangements with classical poetry to transform Arabic music.

But it was her improvisations that made her a legend, feeding off the audience’s energy in a hypnotic exchange, as she stretched and reprised verses.

Western musicians were also mesmerised, with Maria Callas, Robert Plant and Bob Dylan all paying tribute to her.

“She is one of my favourite singers of all time”, Dylan once said.

More recently, Shakira and Beyonce have sampled her songs.

‘ The Lady ‘

Her influence was not just musical.

After the 1952 toppling of the monarchy, her voice became the soundtrack of a transforming Egypt, expressing a new nationalism, spirit of cohesion, and new republican identity.

She gave a sold-out audience a concert at L’Olympia in Paris in 1967, and she donated the army’s massive profits from the sale of tickets to support Israel’s occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.

“Umm Kulthum was more than just a singer”, said veteran art critic Magda Khairallah.

“She was a national figure. According to her, people called her El-Set (The Lady) instead of just Umm Kulthum, she said, adding that is why.

In a new biopic starring Egyptian star Mona Zaki, her story is set to make its way to the big screen this year.

She will be portrayed in the movie as both a musician and a feminist who challenges societal norms.

Though she eventually married at 56, Umm Kulthum never had children.

In the 1940s she became the first woman to head Egypt’s Musicians ‘ Syndicate.

“She was a woman who held immense power in a male-dominated industry”, Fayza Hendawi, an art critic, told AFP.

“She was incredibly strong and completely in control of every detail — her songs, her image, her choices in life”, she added.

In Cairo, a bronze statue of Umm Kulthum stands looking out on the Nile River 50 years after her death, commanding and timeless.

A museum dedicated to her legacy offers glimpses into her life across the water.

Visitors adore her elaborate gowns, notebooks, and diamond-encrusted sunglasses, which became her signature style.

Roaming the museum’s halls are mostly teenagers, a new generation of music-lovers still as enthralled as their elders.

Rodina Mohamed, 15, paused in front of a display case holding one of the singer’s embroidered gowns.

“She was intentional about every detail — lyrics, melodies, performance”, she told AFP.

“That is why she still matters”.

Source: Channels TV

 

 

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