Oum Kalsoum was an internationally famous Egyptian singer, songwriter, and film actress of the 1920s to the 1970s. She is given the honorific title, Kawkab al-Sharq كوكب الشرق (“Star of the East”) in Arabic. Four decades after her death in 1975, she is still widely regarded as the greatest Arabic singer in history.
Oum Kalsoum’s establishment as one of the most famous and popular Arab singers was driven by several factors. During her early career years, she faced staunch competition from two prominent singers: Mounira El Mahdeya and Fathiyya Ahmad, who had similar voices. However, Mounira had poor control over her voice, and Fathiyya lacked the emotive vocal impact that Oum Kalsoum’s voice had. The presence of all these enabling vocal characteristics attracted many composers, musicians, and lyricists to work with Umm Kulthum.
In the mid-1920s, Mohammad el Qasabgi, who was an oud player and a composer, formed her small orchestra (takht), composed of the most virtuosic instrumentalists. Furthermore, unlike most of her contemporary artists who held private concerts, Oum Kalsoum’s performances were open to the general public, which contributed to the transition from classical, and often elitist, to popular Arabic music.
In 1944, King Farouk I of Egypt decorated Oum Kalsoum with the highest level of orders (nishan el kamal), a decoration reserved exclusively to members of the royal family and politicians. Despite this recognition, the royal family rigidly opposed her potential marriage to the King’s uncle, a rejection that deeply wounded her pride and led her to distance herself from the royal family and embrace grassroots causes, such as her answering the request of the Egyptian legion trapped in the Faluja Pocket during the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict to sing a particular song. Among the army men trapped were the figures who were going to lead the bloodless revolution of July 23, 1952, prominently Gamal Abdel Nasser, who arguably was a fan of Umm Kulthum and who would later become the president of Egypt.
Early after the revolution, the Egyptian musicians guild of which Oum Kalsoum became a member (and eventually president) rejected her because she had sung for the then-deposed King Farouk of Egypt. When Nasser discovered that her songs were forbidden from being aired on the radio, he reportedly said something to the effect of “What are they, crazy? Do you want Egypt to turn against us?”.
It was his favor that made the musicians’ guild accept her back into the fold; but it is uncertain if that happened. In addition, Oum Kalsoum was a dedicated Egyptian patriot since the time of King Farouk. Some claim that Umm Kulthum’s popularity helped Nasser’s political agenda. For example, Nasser’s speeches and other government messages were frequently broadcast immediately after Oum Kalsoum’s monthly radio concerts.
Oum Kalsoum was also known for her continuous contributions to charity works for the Egyptian military efforts. Her monthly concerts took place on the first Thursday of every month and were renowned for their ability to clear the streets of some of the world’s most populous cities as people rushed home to tune in. Her songs deal mostly with the universal themes of love, longing and loss. They are nothing short of epic in scale, with durations measured in hours rather than minutes.
A typical Oum Kalsoum concert consisted of the performance of two or three songs over a period of three to four hours. In the late 1960s, due to her age and weakened vocal abilities, she began to shorten her performances to two songs over a period of two-and-a-half to three hours. These performances are in some ways reminiscent of the structure of Western opera, consisting of long vocal passages linked by shorter orchestral interludes. However, Oum Kalsoum was not stylistically influenced by opera, and she sang solo most of her career.
Oum Kalsoum’s musical directions in the 1940s and early 1950s and her mature performing style led this period to becoming popularly known as “the golden age” of Oum Kalsoum. In keeping with changing popular taste as well as her own artistic inclinations, in the early 1940s, she requested songs from composer Zakariya Ahmad and colloquial poet Mahmud Bayram el-Tunsi cast in styles considered to be indigenously Egyptian. This represented a dramatic departure from the modernist romantic songs of the 1930s, mainly led by Mohammad El-Qasabgi. Umm Kulthum had abstained from singing Qasabgi’s music since the early 1940s. Their last stage song collaboration in 1941 was “Raq el Habib” (“The Lover’s Heart Softens”), one of her most popular, intricate, and high-caliber songs.