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Umm
Kulthoum
Biography by Zein Al-Jundi Umm Kulthoum (1904-1975) is indisputably the Arab world's greatest singer. A musician more grand than any description and a real life fairy tale of a village girl who grew up to become a cultural symbol of a whole nation. Described as "the voice and face of Egypt", "kawkab al sharq" (star of the orient), and the "empress of the Arabs", she mesmerized millions. With her tall figure, pitch black hair and a voice, powerful and clear, she was able to create a magical atmosphere and enchant her audiences as no other Arab singer can. Her stage presence was charged by a theatrical rapport with the audience: a slight nod of the head or a shake of her shoulders and they were in an uproar. A singer with great vocal agility and a uniquely expressive tone, she was famous for singing the same phrase numerous times but never the same way twice, making her listeners laugh or bring them to tears. She was born around 1904 to a humble peasant family in Tammay al-Zahayrah-a tiny Egyptian v illage. Her father was the Imam (religious leader) of the local mosque. Her mother was a housewife who cared for the three children, of which Um Kulthoum was the youngest. Um Kulthoum entered the Qur'anic school at the age of five. There, she memorized sections of the Qur'an and learned the fundamentals of reading and writing. She learned how to sing from her father who supplemented his income by singing with his son religious songs in weddings and others celebrations. She began to perform with him in their village when her brother fell ill. Her youth and exceptionally strong voice quickly became the main attraction of the group. Soon afterward, dressed as a bedouin boy in order to escape religious and social judgement, she became the principle singer for the family. As their Performance opportunities increased, the family began to travel to near by villages, mostly by foot, and began to charge larger fees. But in order to further the young singer's career, a move to Cairo became inevitable. With the help of the mashayekh (religious personnel) in the city, the move was made in 1923. Shortly after moving to Cairo, Um Kulthoum's voice was quickly identified as strong and vibrant. Her singing, though, was viewed as unschooled; her demeanour as that of a peasant girl. So she set out to improve her skills in all areas. She began to get training from numerous music teachers and was introduced to the poet Ahmad Rami who taught her poetry and helped her in commanding literary Arabic. Meanwhile she continued singing with the family's ensemble. 1926 was a turning point for Um Kulthoum's career. Following criticsm of the family's old fashioned repertory and style of performance (a solo vocalist accompanied by a male chorus), she made the decision to hire accomplished musicians and began singing with the accompaniment of an instrumental takht. In the following period of only two years, she was to become a serious competitor to the top singers of the times. Um Kulthoum began making commercial recordings in the 1920's and 30's. Her life-long commitment to mass media was expanded to include radio in 1934, the year that marked the inception of Egyptian National Radio. In 1935, she started working on the feature film, Widad, the first of six that she made. In this period her repertoire consisted of romantic, virtousic songs that were consistent with the popular trends of Egyptian music of the time; she mainly worked with the texts of Ahmad Rami and the music of Muhammad Al-Qasabji. In the 1940's and 50's she made the step of departing from the modernist romantic songs of the 1930's. She now sought songs from composer Zakariya Ahmad and Colloquial poet Bayram Al-Tunisi. Those songs, cast in styles considered more indiginously Egyptian, marked what is called the "Golden Age" of her career. Later in this period, she teamed up with composer Riyad Al-Sunbati to set to music a number of qasa'id by Ahmad Shawqi. Those songs were stylistically different from that of Ahmad and Al-Tunisi, yet they were still view ed as idiginously Arabic and very well received. After the Egyptian Revolution in 1952, the great singer sought new modern love songs from the younger generation of musician such as Baligh Hamdi. In the 1960's she was finally to collaborate with Muhammad Abdel Wahab who composed ten songs for her between 1964 and 1972. It was in this era that Um Kulthoum expanded her role in Egyptian public life and emerged as the spokeswoman of many causes. A woman, who previously guarded her private life very carefull y, she now granted interviews that were full of stories about her family and the life of the village girl she identified herself as being. She advocated governmental support for Arabic music and musician, endowed a charitable foundation, and in 1967, after the Egyptian defeat to Israel, she began a series of concerts across the Arab world donating the proceeds to the Egyptian government. The last few years of her life in the early 1970's were plagued with many health problem with which she struggled all her adult life. Her last song, 'Hakam Alaya El Hawa' was scheduled to be premiered in the Spring of 1973 but never was . Um Kulthoum recorded it in the studio, as she usually did with all of her song, but was too ill to hold the public concert. She died of heart failure on Feb 3rd, 1975. Her funeral was attended by many Arab heads of state and over three million people followed her through the streets of Cairo. It is said that it was the largest funeral in the history of Egypt second only to that of Jamal Abdel Naser, the great Egyptian leader. Four million Arabs walked the streets of Cairo to bid farewell to the greatest Arab singer who ever lived. Umm Kulthoum's |
