Umm Kulthum: The Voice of Egypt
Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum - When Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum died, four million mourners flooded the streets of Cairo.
"All Arabs agree," reads The Rough Guide to World Music. "Umm Kulthum is indisputably the Arab world's greatest singer."
The name Umm Kulthum may not strike a chord to Western ears, but she was a larger-than-life presence in the Arab world. The Egyptian singer's career was long, its heyday extending from the 1930s to the 1960s, and her music became a powerful symbol of Arab nationalism. When she died in 1975 at the age of 70, 4 million people poured into the streets of Cairo to mourn her passing.
Today, her music is everywhere. Even at truck stops, CD kiosks are brimming with Umm Kulthum's many recordings. In the 1950s and '60s, her fame grew, thanks to her legendary live radio broadcasts. On Thursday nights, the streets of Cairo would empty as people gathered around radio sets to hear the great singer. You can still hear a lot of Umm Kulthum on Egyptian radio today. In honor of her famous broadcasts, her music is played at 10 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month.
Umm Kulthum's Palace
Umm Kulthum lived on Cairo's Zamalek Island, on a quiet villa overlooking the Nile. Sadly, the house was razed in the early 1980s to make way for a block of apartments, but on nearby Roda Island, there now stands a bronze statue of Umm Kulthum in front of a palace that houses the Umm Kulthum Museum.
Dr. Walid Shosha manages the museum, and he's also a professor at the Academy of Arts. One display features two of Umm Kulthum's glamorous trademarks: the scarf she always held in her left hand as she performed and a pair of diamond-studded cat-eye sunglasses. Also on view are Umm Kulthum's luxurious dresses, gramophones, instruments and audio-visual displays.
"Visitors spend hours," Shosha says, "listening to Umm Kulthum, getting to know her, reading intimate articles about her life and the way she lived."
A Voice Like Egypt
Also on display are books about the singer, including a biography written by Virginia Danielson, curator of the archive of world music at Harvard University. The recent documentary, Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt, was based on her book. Danielson says that Umm Kulthum's early religious training set the course for the singer's immaculate and nuanced diction.
"She was born to a poor family," Danielson says, "and at the time Egypt was under British occupation, and virtually the only schools that were available or encouraged were religious schools. Now what you learned was to recite the Koran, and that tended to give people a profound appreciation for the sound of the language. And, of course, the Koran is written in very elegant Arabic. Umm Kulthum had a very powerful voice, equally strong from the lowest to the highest part of her range, and she was musically very inventive. She schooled herself musically by learning to command the Arab musical system and learning to improvise in that system the way a jazz musician would improvise using the Western system."
Danielson also points to Umm Kulthum's great appreciation of fine poetry.
"She had an ability to link musical improvisation to the meaning of the words that she was singing in such a way that the meaning was really felt by listeners. Many scholars say poetry is the art of the Arabs, and so to sing poetry well is something that will tend to garner great appreciation among Arabic-speaking listeners."
Casting a Spell
Umm Kulthum was also a master at casting a spell over her audiences. In the documentary, there's a clip of Umm Kulthum singing, sometime in the 1940s or '50s, and the audience begins to sing back phrases to her. Danielson says it has to do with the Arab word tarab.
"Tarab is a concept of enchantment," Danielson says. "It's usually associated with vocal music, although instrumental music can produce the same effect, in which the listener is completely enveloped in the sound and the meaning in a broad experiential sense, and is just completely carried away by the performance."
Umm Kulthum's music also lives on in U.S. The Arabesque Music Ensemble, a Chicago-based group, has released a CD featuring a trio of composers who wrote more than three-quarters of Umm Kulthum's songs. Arabesque member Hicham Chami says that Kulthum was adept at finding just the right material for her music.
"She was a no-nonsense businesswoman; besides her tremendous talent, she was very successful in surrounding herself with not only the finest musicians of that period, but also the finest composers. As young musicians, we decided it was about time to give credit to these composers, and reward their legacy."
Included on the disc is "Ghannili," a song made famous when Umm Kulthum sang it in a scene from the 1944 movie Sallama. Youssef Kassab, a singer with the Arabesque Ensemble, remembers seeing Umm Kulthum when she gave a concert in Damascus, Syria.
"She was maybe 50. I was 16 at the time. My father took me, and I listened to Umm Kulthum. I saw her outside, with her chauffeur. He opened the door for her, I looked and she [was] wearing red. Even her socks were red. Shoes red, purse red. Like a queen! Umm Kulthum, she's number one to me."
It's been well over 30 years since Umm Kulthum died. But through her recordings, her millions of fans and the new documentary, the great voice of Egypt will live on for many years to come.
Radio story produced by Ned Wharton.
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- The Music of the Three Musketeers by Arabesque Music Ensemble
LIANE HANSEN, host:
The Rough Guide to World Music states Umm Kulthum is indisputably the Arab world's greatest singer. We're not sure how scientific this survey was, but there is something undeniably special about her voice.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. UMM KULTHUM (Singer): (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: The name Umm Kulthum may not resonate in Western ears, but she was a larger-than-life presence in the Arab world. The Egyptian singer's career was long, its heyday extending from the 1930s to the 1960s, and her music became a powerful symbol of Arab nationalism. When Umm Kulthum died in 1975 at the age of 70, some four million people poured into the streets of Cairo to mourn her passing.
Today, her music is everywhere. At a truck stop halfway between Cairo and Alexandria, we found a CD kiosk with plenty of Umm Kulthum's.
Oh my goodness. Is this whole drawer Umm Kulthum?
Unidentified Man #1: (Unintelligible).
HANSEN: Mostly.
Unidentified Man #2: (Unintelligible)
HANSEN: Umm Kulthum's live broadcasts of the 50s and 60s, were legendary and Cairo streets would empty on Thursday nights as people gathered around radios to hear them.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: You still can hear a lots of Umm Kulthum on the Egyptian radio. And in honor of her famous broadcasts, her music is played at 10:00 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: Umm Kulthum lived on Cairo's Zamalek Island in a quiet villa overlooking the Nile. The house was razed in the early 1980s to make way for a block of apartments. But on nearby Roda Island, there is now a bronze statue of Kulthum in front of a palace. It is home to the Umm Kulthum Museum.
(Soundbite of banging)
Dr. WALID SHOSHA (Manager, Umm Kulthum Museum, Professor, Academy of Arts): (Through translator) We start the museum by instinctive feature of Umm Kulthum. Her scarf - she's probably the only singer in Egypt who always had the scarf while singing.
HANSEN: Dr. Walid Shosha was our guide. He's the manager of the Umm Kulthum Museum, and a professor at the Academy of Arts. Our tour began at a display featuring two of Kulthum's glamorous trademarks: the scarf she always held in her left hand as she performed and a pair of diamond-studded cat's eye sunglasses. Then we came to a long case filled with Kulthum's luxurious jeweled dresses. There were smaller exhibits of instruments and her gramophones occupies a prominent place just outside a room filled with individual audio-visual terminals.
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: What was the name of this song we were listening to?
Mr. SHOSHA: (Through translator) The song you just heard is called "A Night of Love." It is part of the audio-visual library you have here. And visitors spend hours listening to Umm Kulthum, getting to know her, finding intimate articles about her life and the way she lived.
HANSEN: There's also a library of books about the Umm Kulthum at the Cairo museum, including a biography written by Virginia Danielson, curator of the world music archive at Harvard University.
Unidentified Man #3: Umm Kulthum was born at the turn of the century when most Egyptians, they lived and worked on the land. Her family was as poor as the other peasants in the...
HANSEN: The documentary, "Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt," narrated by Omar Sharif, was released on DVD last year. It is based on Virginia Danielson's biography of Kulthum. Danielson came into the studio of member station of WGBH in Boston to talk about Umm Kulthum's life.
Ms. VIRGINIA DANIELSON (Curator, World Music Archive, Harvard University, Author, "Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt"): She was born to a poor family and at the time Egypt was under British occupation, and virtually the only schools that were available or encouraged were religious schools.
Now what you learned was to recite the Koran, and that tended to give people a profound appreciation for the language and for the sound of the language. And, of course, the Koran is written in very elegant Arabic. Even Christian and Jewish singers would study the Koran or get instruction in recitation in order to be able to treat the language as well as possible because that was very much appreciated by listeners, whether it was to oratory or song.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
Ms. DANIELSON: She had a very powerful voice. She had a wide range. Her voice was equally strong from the lowest to the highest part of her range, and she was musically very inventive. She schooled herself musically by learning to command the Arab musical system, learning to improvise in that system the way a jazz musician would improvise on using the Western system. And she also learned a profound appreciate of fine poetry.
And she had an ability to link musical improvisation to the meaning of the words that she was singing in such a way that the meaning was really felt by listeners. Many scholars and teachers would say that poetry is the art of the Arabs. And so to sing poetry well is something that will tend to garner great appreciation among Arabic-speaking listeners.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: She weaves a spell. But there's one part in the documentary, I think somewhere in the 1940s or 50s, and the audience begins to sing back phrases to her. And there's a word, tarab, ecstasy.
Ms. DANIELSON: Yes. Tarab is a concept of enchantment. In fact, it's an goal of historically Arab performance. It's usually associated with vocal music, although instrumental music can produce the same effect, in which the listener is completely enveloped in the sound and the meaning in a broad experiential sense, and is just completely taken away, carried away, if you will, by the performance.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: And there's footage of her too, and you'll see her in this amazing gowns, sparkling, holding the handkerchief in her left hand and just singing. And that's something that goes on. It's like our own - you know, the American idea of go back and see some of these jazz singers. She can channel Billie Holiday a little bit. You know, and you watch some of that older 40s footage of her but in a completely different culture.
Ms. DANIELSON: Yeah, and what we - at one point the filmmaker, Michal Goldman and I had to describe, you know, in what is often asked to describe Umm Kulthum in American terms. And we said, well, if you took a singer with the musical chops of Ella Fitzgerald and then you gave that person the public persona of Eleanor Roosevelt and they you gave that person the audience of Elvis, you'd have it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. DANIELSON: That's what we're looking at.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: that's the Arabesque Music Ensemble preparing for a recent concert at Georgetown University here in Washington, D.C. The group is based in Chicago, and is keeping Kulthum's legacy and classical Arab music alive. The ensemble's CD, "The Music of the Three Musketeers," features a trio of composers who wrote more than three-quarters of Kulthum's songs. Backstage we meet group member Hicham Chami, who says Umm Kulthum always found the right material.
Mr. HICHAM CHAMI (Member, Arabesque Music Ensemble): She was a no-nonsense businesswoman; besides her tremendous talent, she was very successful in surrounding herself with some of the finest musicians of that period, but also some of the finest composers. And as young musicians, we decided that it was about time to give credit to these composers, and reward their legacy.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. YOUSSEF KASSAB (Singer, Arabesque Music Ensemble): (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: This song became famous when Umm Kulthum sang it in a scene from the 1944 movie "Sallama." Here it is sung by Youssef Kassab, with the Arabesque Music Ensemble.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. KASSAB: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
In Damascus, Syria, Umm Kulthum, she come once when she's maybe 50. I was 16 this time.
HANSEN: Syrian singer Youssef Kassab is now in his 70s.
Mr. KASSAB: My father, he take me, and I listened to Kulthum. But I saw her outside. Her chauffeur, driver, he opened the door for her. I looked - this is Umm Kulthum. And she wearing red.
HANSEN: Red.
Mr. KASSAB: Yeah. Even her socks red. Shoes red, purse red. You know, yeah, like queen. So, Umm Kulthum, she's number one to me.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. KULTHUM: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
HANSEN: You can see a video excerpt from "Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt" and hear selections from the Arabesque Music Ensemble's new CD at our Web site, NPR.org/Music.
(Soundbite of music)
HANSEN: This is NPR's WEEKEND EDITION. I'm Lois Hansen's daughter, Liane. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
