Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. Umm Kulthum’s musical directions in the 1940s and early 1950s and her mature performing style led this period to become popularly known as “the golden age” of Umm Kulthum. 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.
Why is Umm Kulthum famous?
Umm Kulthūm, also spelled Oum Kulthoum or Om Kalsoum, Egyptian singer who mesmerized Arab audiences from the Persian Gulf to Morocco for half a century. She was one of the most famous Arab singers and public personalities of the 20th century.
She was given the honorific title “Kawkab el-charq” She is considered a national icon in her native Egypt; she has been dubbed “The Voice of Egypt”, the “Lady of Arabic Song” and “Egypt’s Fourth Pyramid”.
