Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer and musician. Along with Fairouz and Asmahan, she is one of the best known and most beloved of all singers in the Arab world, and her albums still outsell many others in the Arabic language.
Umm Kulthum (May 4, 1904 – February 3, 1975) was born in Tamay-az-Zahayra, Ad Daqahliyah Governorate, Egypt. Her exact date of birth is unknown, although it was likely to be the fourth of May. At a young age, she showed exceptional singing talents. Her father, an Imam, taught her to recite the Qur'an. She is said to have memorized the entire Qur'an. At the age of twelve, her father disguised her as a young boy and entered her in a small performing troupe that he directed. At the age of sixteen she was noticed by Abu El-Ala Mohamed, a modestly famous singer, and by the famous lutist, Zakaria Ahmed who asked her to accompany them to Cairo. However, she waited until 1923, before taking up the invitation. In Cairo, she carefully avoided succumbing to the attractions of the Bohemian lifestyle, and indeed throughout her life stressed her pride in her humble origins and espousal of conservative values. She also maintained a tightly-managed public image, and this undoubtedly added to her allure. At this point, she was introduced to the famous poet, Ahmed Rami, who would write 137 songs for her. Rami also introduced her to French literature, which he greatly admired from his studies at the Sorbonne, Paris. Furthermore, she was introduced to the renowned lute virtuoso and composer, Mohamed El Kasabji. El Kasabji introduced Umm Kulthum to the Arabian Theatre Palace, where she would experience her first real public success. In 1932, she became famous enough to begin a large tour of the Middle East, touring such cities as Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut, and Tripoli. Fame By 1948, her fame had come to the attention of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who would later become the President of Egypt. At one point, the Egyptian musicians guild she was a part of, rejected her since she had sung for the then deposed king. Nasser did not hide his admiration for her. When he discovered that she had no longer been allowed to sing, 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. In addition, as a patriot and nationalist, Umm Kulthum strongly supported Nasser's ideas of Arab Nationalism. Their relationship contributed to her later phenomenal popularity across the Arab World. However, some claim that it was more a case of Umm Kulthum's popularity assisting Nasser's political agenda. For example, Nasser's speeches and other government messages were frequently broadcast immediately after Umm Kulthum's monthly radio concerts. Umm Kulthum's 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 Umm Kulthum concert consisted of the performance of a single song over a period of six or more hours. These performances are in some ways reminiscent of Western Opera, consisting of long vocal passages linked by shorter orchestral interludes. The duration of Umm Kulthum's songs in performance was not fixed, but varied based on the level of emotive interaction between the singer and her audience. A typical technique of hers was to repeat a single phrase or sentence of a song's lyrics over and over, subtly altering the emotive emphasis and intensity each time. Thus, while the official recorded length of a song such as Enta Omri (You Are My Life) is approximately 40 minutes, in live performance this could extend to many hours due to the singer and her audience feeding off each other's emotional energy.
This intense, highly personalised creative relationship, was undoubtedly one of the reasons for Umm Kulthum's tremendous success as an artist. Acting & Marriage In parallel to her singing career, Umm Kulthum at one point pursued an acting career; however, she quickly gave it up because of the lack of personal and emotional contact with the audience. In 1953, she married a medical doctor named Hassen El Hafnaoui, taking care to include a clause that would allow her to initiate a divorce if necessary. The couple had no children. Umm Kulthum also had an intense personal relationship with one of the uncles of King Farouk in the 1940s; the singer was reportedly devastated when the king forbade their planned marriage. Death
In 1967, she was diagnosed with a severe case of nephritis. Umm Kulthum gave her last concert at the Palace of the Nile in 1972. Tests at that time indicated that her illness was inoperable. She moved to the United States, where she benefited for some time from the advanced medical technology, but in 1975, while re-entering her home country, her hospitalisation was necessitated due to declining health. Umm Kulthum died in a Cairo hospital on February 3, 1975. Her funeral was attended by over four million mourners ? one of the largest gatherings in history ? and descended into pandemonium when the crowd seized control of her coffin and carried it to a mosque that they considered her favourite, before later releasing it for burial. Umm Kulthum has been a significant influence on a number of musicians, both in the Arab world and beyond. Among others, Jah Wobble has claimed her as a significant influence on his work. Bob Dylan is also known to be an admirer of Kulthum's music. One of her best known songs, Enta Omri, has been the basis of many reinterpretations, including one 2005 collaborative project involving Israeli and Egyptian artists. [Legacy Umm Kulthum is remembered in the Arab world as one of the greatest singers who ever lived. She has attained a near mythical status, even to this day, among young Arabs. She is also notably popular in Israel among Jews and Arabs alike.
Très jeune, la petite fille montre des talents de chanteuse exceptionnels, au point qu'à 10 ans son père la fait entrer - déguisée en garçon - dans la petite troupe de cheikhs qu'il dirige. À 16 ans, elle est remarquée par un chanteur alors très célèbre, Cheikh Abou El Ala Mohamed, et par un joueur de luth, Zakaria Ahmed, tous deux l'invitant à les accompagner au Caire. Elle attendra d'avoir atteint l'âge de 16 ans pour répondre à l'invitation, et pour produire - toujours habillée en garçon - dans de petits théâtres, fuyant soigneusement toute mondanité ou vie de bohème. Très vite, deux rencontres déterminent sa vie. Celle de Ahmed Rami tout d'abord, un poète qui lui écrira 137 chansons et l'initiera à la littérature française, qu'il a étudiée à la Sorbonne. Mohamed El Qasabji, ensuite - virtuose du luth, lui trouve le Palais du théâtre arabe, l'occasion pour Oum Kalthoum de premiers grands succès (L'amoureux est trahi par ses yeux). En 1932, sa notoriété est telle qu'elle entame sa première tournée orientale : Damas, Bagdad, Beyrouth, Tripoli, etc. Cette célébrité lui permet également, en 1948, de rencontrer Gamal Abdel Nasser, qui ne cache rien de son admiration et qui officialise en quelque sorte l'amour de l'Égypte pour la chanteuse, amour réciproque puisque Oum Kalthoum donnera de nombreuses preuves de son patriotisme. Parallèlement à sa carrière de chanteuse, elle s'essaie au cinéma (Weddad, 1936 ; Le chant de l'espoir, 1937 ; Dananir, 1940 ; Aïda, 1942 ; Sallama, 1945 et Fatma, 1947) mais délaisse assez vite le septième art, le face-à-face émotif avec le public lui faisant cruellement défaut. En 1953, elle épouse un homme qu'elle respecte et admire, son médecin depuis de nombreuses années, Hassen El Hafnaoui, en prenant soin d'inclure tout de même la clause du pouvoir à la dame qui lui permettrait de prendre elle-même la décision du divorce le cas échéant. Multipliant les concerts internationaux, elle vient en France à l'Olympia (Paris) en Novembre 1967 ; et le président Charles de Gaulle lui envoie un télégramme de félicitations, mais celle que l'on surnomme El Sett (la dame) commence à souffrir de graves crises néphritique.On raconte que Maria Callas aurait dit que Oum kalsoum, avait une voix incomparable - 14000 vibrations / seconde. En 1972, elle donne son dernier concert au Palais du Nil et les examens qu'elle pratiqua à Londres montrent qu'elle est inopérable. Aux États-Unis d'Amérique, où son mari la conduit, elle bénéficie un temps des avancées pharmaceutiques mais en 1975, rentrée au pays, une crise très importante la contraint à l'hospitalisation. La population de son petit village natal du delta psalmodie toute la journée le Coran. Oum Kalthoum s'éteint à l'hôpital le 3 février 1975 à l'aube. Ses funérailles furent grandioses: plus de 5 millions de personnes l'ont accompagnée vers sa dernière demeure, auprès de ses parents et de son frère, au Caire.
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