Umm Kulthum is undoubtedly
the most famous and recognized person in the History of the Middle
East.
It would be difficult indeed to find an Arab and almost impossible to
find
an Egyptian today who did not know Umm Kulthum. While she was
alive
her broadcasts were aired live on Egyptian radio, and later throughout
the Arab world, on the first Tuesday of every
month. During
the broadcasts, the streets of some of the most populous cities in the
world were eerily quiet as most people were in their homes tuned
attentively
to their radios. Umm Kulthum was born near the beginning of the century
to a poor rural family. Her father was a Shaykh who taught
her how
to chant the Qur’an. She attended the Kuttaab when
she was five years
old where she recited and memorized the Qur’an. 
Her
classical education in the Qur’an became her strongest asset
as a singer.
She was precise and deliberate in her diction which enabled her to
manipulate
words and phrases precisely to captivate her audience’s
emotions.
She did not use musical scores, she simply sang a few simple lines over and over altering them as her heart saw fit. She was fueled by her audience and created complex scales to feed their moods.
Umm Kulthum took
advantage of changing technology, while keeping to classical Arabic
music
and instruments. She was a pioneer in using the phonograph,
radio
and cinema that magically allowed her voice to be “mixed with
the air”
(Umm Kulthum, A voice like Egypt, Arab film distribution).
The combination
of advanced technology, traditional sounds and a strong voice
catapulted
Umm Kulthum into the home and heart of every Egyptian. She
was, in
her time, a major force in creating an Egyptian nationalism and even
unified
the entire Arab world beneath her. Her songs moved and
touched people
in a unique way that connected them together.
Umm Kulthum was
powerfully emotional. Her emotion drove her to perform and to
be
excellent at her craft. Her emotions also transferred to her
fans
which created an energy that focused on the causes that she felt drawn
to. She performed benefit concerts for students and rallied
people
to demonstrate against the British Army’s occupation of
Egypt. She
sang; “Give your soul in sacrifice to the nation.
We will perish,
but our Egypt will live forever and we will live on in those who
remember.”
She felt anger and disappointment at Egypt’s loss to Israel
in 1948.
Umm Kulthum threw a party for the returning army officers who became
national
heroes. Gamal Abdul Nasser was one of those heroes who would
later
become one of Umm Kulthum’s biggest supporter and closest
friends.
Umm Kulthum sang; “Not through hope will the prize be
obtained. The
world must be taken by struggle” which became the motto of
the demonstrations
against the corrupt King Farouk. Umm Kulthum’s
voice stood firmly
behind the group of army officers that took control of the government
in
July 1952. She supported Nasser and brought along with her
the hearts
of the Egyptian citizens.
On February 4th,
1975, Egyptian radio aired the chanting of the
Qur’an. It was the
sign that someone important has died. Umm Kulthum’s
funeral drew
more than four million people to the streets of Cairo to publicly mourn
her passing. More than twenty four years after her death, she
is
still heard daily on the radio and her albums are top sellers.