Through a lovable and "idol" voice by American singer and artist Bob Dylan and English musician famous songwriter Robert Blunt and millions from all over the Arab world; Umm Kulthum has rejected country bases with her strong political music, but can her ninety-minute songs have an impact In a new musical stage?
Writer Tom Faber said in his report published in the "The Guardian" newspaper that you hear "Umm Kulthum" cafe before you see it, as you can hear the sound of the violin and its songs from the entrance to the cafe once you reach Al-Tawfikia neighborhood in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
Outside, the men smoke hookahs on plastic chairs, near two massive golden statues embodying the singer known as "Planet of the East" and "the Fourth Pyramid of Egypt."
The writer stated that "Umm Kulthum" recorded about three hundred songs over sixty years, and her words about love, loss and longing were repeated in taxis, radios and cafes all over the Arab world to the present time, that is, after 45 years have passed.
Although she sang intricate Arabic poetry, she influenced some of the greatest Western singers, such as Shakira and Beyonce.
Umm Kulthum was born in the Nile Delta in 1904, and is the daughter of an imam, where he earned his income from performing religious songs with his son and nephew, and Umm Kulthum at that time imitated them, and thus learned to sing by singing religious songs "like a parrot".
By joining this family group, her distinguished voice was a new addition, but it was also provocative, claiming that she was a woman performing religious songs. This made her father wear a boy's coat and headwear, so that only her eyes and mouth could appear. Then she brightened her talent, and attracted the attention of famous musicians, who invited her to Cairo.
Umm Kulthum took a long time until she was able to find her place in the big city in the early twenties. Although her voice was admired in Cairo's elite homes, she was ridiculed for her clothes.
Gradually, Umm Kulthum learned to dress neatly, and worked with the best artists of the time. As a result, record companies compete to sign contracts with her, and Umm Kulthum managed to gain fame, and she gained twice as much as the biggest stars in the art scene in Cairo.
Umm Kulthum was a type of Contralto, the deepest voice for women, but it had a profound impact.
In fact, the singer revived broad concerts without using the loudspeaker, and the crowd was asking her to repeat the clips, and she was responding to this, which means that the song lasted between 45 and 90 minutes.
The performance of Umm Kulthum generally lasts about five hours, as it consists of three long songs. In fact, her aim behind this was to stir joy and rapture among her fans.
Beginning in 1934, and for nearly forty years, Umm Kulthum was broadcasting a live concert on the first Thursday of every month, so people would rush to their homes to listen to them, and the streets from Tunisia to Iraq would be empty.
In his report, the author says that some complained about Umm Kulthum's persistent appearance in the media, which was behind the blurring of many other talents, while some felt uncomfortable with her national enthusiasm.
On the other hand, Umm Kulthum was wary of the press, and she made sure that the details of her life story be told by specific journalists and photographers.
She also achieved a judicious balance between her pious Islam and her personality as a rural girl, her defense of the Arabic language and her symbolism as an Egyptian figure.
In one of her few interviews in Paris in 1967, Umm Kulthum was magnificently prepared, offering brief and conservative answers, as her insight into the journalist penetrated.
When asked about the most important teacher she visited in Paris, she replied that it was the "Obelisk of Luxor" in Place de la Concorde, who was transferred from Egypt to Paris in 1833. And when the journalist asked her why? She simply said, "It is ours."
In conclusion, the writer mentioned that the Virginia ethnologist musicologist Danielson, who wrote the biography of Umm Kulthum, said in her book that Umm Kulthum “simply learned to introduce herself the way she wanted people to remember her,” and Danielson added that for everyone to understand Umm Kulthum’s character is not as an artist According to him, but as a social phenomenon that is still firmly established today, "We must not only see the life that formed the myth, but also understand the myth that was created from the crucifixion of that life."