Latest news with #UmKalthoum
Al-Ahram Weekly
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Aswan International Women Film Festival names 9th edition after Um Kalthoum - Screens - Arts & Culture
The 9th edition of the Aswan International Women Film Festival (AIWFF, 2-7 May 2025) has been named after Um Kalthoum, whose face decks the festival's official poster. This celebration of Um Kalthoum coincides with the 50th anniversary of her passing. The poster's designer, Hisham Ali, said he aimed to create a design that reflected Um Kalthoum's cinematic and artistic spirit, underscoring her exceptional position in Arabic music and cultural history. Hisham Ali, who often creates artwork for the AIWFF and other film festivals' posters and who has won several awards, commented on this year's design: "The most prominent element of the design is the black, wavy film reel, which is used to form the features of Um Kalthoum's face. This reflects the visual connection between cinema and music. The twisting of the reel around the image suggests movement and continuity, as if Um Kalthoum's legacy is still alive through generations, much like cinema brings creativity from the past to the present." The 9th edition of the Aswan International Women's Film Festival will be held from 2 to 7 May in the southern city of Aswan. The festival has yet to release its vibrant lineup of films and jury panels. Year of Um Kalthoum At the beginning of this year, Egypt's culture ministry designated 2025 as the Year of Um Kalthoum. It announced its comprehensive programme of events and activities to highlight Um Kalthoum's musical legacy and profound impact on the Arab world. Many artists, ensembles, and art institutions equally embrace the celebrations. The ministry's General Authority for Cultural Palaces, the Cultural Development Fund, and the Cairo International Book Fair are among the bodies that either dedicated a prominent segment to Um Kalthoum or set year-long activities celebrating the Star of the East. Even before that, the celebrations crossed Egypt's borders. In early February 2025, the Paris Philharmonic Hall (Philharmonie de Paris) in France hosted the Egyptian Arab Music Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Alaa Abdel-Salam, which held a concert featuring singers Rehab Omar and Eman Abdel-Ghany. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
50 years on, Um Kalthoum is still the voice of the Arab world - Music - Arts & Culture
Half a century after her death, Um Kalthoum's singular voice still echoes through busy streets in Egypt, across time-worn cafes in Iraq, and in millions of homes from Morocco to Oman. "As long as people listen to music, there will be Um Kalthoum," said Abu Ahmed, the manager of a Cairo cafe named after the Arab world's most revered singer. "She still lives in every song and every note," he told AFP, adjusting the volume on an antique recorder as visitors to the historic bazaar the cafe is housed in peered in from outside. Sepia-toned photographs of the icon adorn the walls of Abu Ahmed's cafe, alongside posters from her concerts. As her voice in her most famous ballad, "Enta Omri" ("You're My Life"), rose to a crescendo, conversation around a nearby table fell to a hush. "Um Kalthoum is the voice of the nation," Aya Khamis, 36, whispered as she sipped her tea. On a wooden stall just outside, a vendor laid out tiny figurines of Um Kalthoum and her orchestra. Each piece was carefully crafted -- musicians in sharp suits, miniature renditions of classical instruments the qanun and the oud, and Um Kalthoum herself, with her signature scarf and sunglasses. "These are my bestsellers," said Shadi Said, 37, holding up a figurine of the singer. - Disguised as a boy - More than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) away, the same music poured out of Baghdad's own Um Kalthoum cafe -- open since 1970, five years before the singer's death at 76 plunged the Arab world into mourning. Far away from her state funeral in Cairo, the cafe in Baghdad held its own ceremony for bereaved fans like Iraqi engineer Youssef Hamad. Now 77 and retired, Hamad told AFP he still comes to the same cafe every day to listen to Um Kalthoum's hours-long concerts. Another cafe-goer, Khazaal Abu Ali, struggled to put his love for her into words. "She once sang 'if a day passes without seeing you, it can't count towards my lifetime'. That is how I feel," the 83-year-old said, his eyes tearing up. "A day without her voice is a day that is lost." Born in 1898 in a small Nile Delta village, Um Kalthoum rose from humble beginnings to become the most celebrated voice in the Arab world. Her father, an imam, recognised her talent early on, but fearing the ire of early 20th-century Egyptian society, disguised her as a boy so she could perform in public. Her full-bodied voice and magnetic presence soon captivated audiences, and in the 1930s she moved to Cairo. Her music revolutionised Arabic music, as she blended classical poetry with grand orchestral arrangements. But it was her improvisations that made her a legend, feeding off the audience's energy in a hypnotic exchange, as she stretched and reprised verses. Western musicians were also mesmerised, with Maria Callas, Robert Plant and Bob Dylan all paying tribute to her. "She is one of my favourite singers of all time," Dylan once said. More recently, Shakira and Beyonce have sampled her songs. - 'The Lady' - Her influence was not just musical. Her voice became the soundtrack of a transforming Egypt, embodying a nascent nationalism, spirit of unity and a new republican identity after the monarchy was toppled in 1952. In 1967, she performed at L'Olympia in Paris to a sold-out crowd, and donated the huge profit from ticket sales to the Egyptian army for its war against Israel, then occupying the Sinai Peninsula. "Um Kalthoum was more than just a singer," said veteran art critic Magda Khairallah. "She was a national figure. That is why people did not just call her Um Kalthoum -- they called her El-Set (The Lady)," she told AFP. This year, her story is set to return to the big screen in a new biopic starring Egyptian star Mona Zaki. The film will portray her not just as a musician, but also as a feminist figure challenging societal norms. Though she eventually married at 56, Um Kalthoum never had children. In the 1940s she became the first woman to head Egypt's Musicians' Syndicate. "She was a woman who held immense power in a male-dominated industry," Fayza Hendawi, an art critic, told AFP. "She was incredibly strong and completely in control of every detail -- her songs, her image, her choices in life," she added. In Cairo, a bronze statue of Um Kalthoum stands looking out on the Nile River 50 years after her death, commanding and timeless. Across the water, a museum dedicated to her legacy offers glimpses into her world. Visitors marvel at her ornate gowns, notebooks and the diamond-encrusted sunglasses that became her signature look. Roaming the museum's halls are mostly teenagers, a new generation of music-lovers still as enthralled as their elders. Rodina Mohamed, 15, paused in front of a display case holding one of the singer's embroidered gowns. "She was intentional about every detail -- lyrics, melodies, performance," she told AFP. Short link:
