This biographical outline of the life of Umm Kulthum is courtesy of Virginia Louise
Danielson and has been transcribed from:
Shaping tradition in Arabic song: The career and repertory of Umm Kulthum.
Virginia Louise Danielson,
University of Illinois, 1991
Ph.D. thesis - pages 57 - 75
Umm Kulthum: An Outline of her Life
Childhood
Umm Kulthum was born in a small rural village to a poor family. Her background
typified that of the mashayikh and did not differ substantially from that of many of her
contemporaries. Her father, al-Shaykh Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Baltaji (d. 1932), was the
imam of the local mosque, and her mother, Fatmah al-Maliji (d. 1947), was a
housewife. (1) Her date of birth is not known for certain, but the most reliable
suggestion is May 4, 1904, given on a page from the Daqahliyah provincial birth records
for Tammay al-Zahayrah. (2)
Umm Kulthum's father augmented his meager income from the mosque by singing
religious songs for weddings and other celebrations in his own and neighboring
villages. Upon meeting him in 1917, Zakariya Ahmad remarked that he was "an
extremely devout and pious man" and so he seemed to many others who saw him later
in Cairo. (3) Umm Kulthum's mother cared for the children: Umm Kulthum, her sister,
Sayyidah, about ten years older than Umm Kulthum, and her brother, Khalid, who was
one year older. Umm Kulthum was her last child. She described her mother as a good
woman who lived simply and taught her children the importance of truth, humility and
trust in God. (4)
The family lived in the village of Tammay al-Zahayrah near the city of al-Sinbillawayn in
the Delta province of Daqahliyah (See Map 1). The village consisted of 278 dwellings
that housed 1,665 people, or about 6 people per hearth. As Umm Kulthum later
described it,
"It was a humble village. The highest building in it did not exceed two stories. The
greatest display of wealth was the @umdah's carriage pulled by one horse! . . And there
was only one street in the whole village wide enough for the @umdah's carriage . . . I
sang in the neighboring villages, all of which were small. I thought that the city of
al-Sinbillawayn was the biggest city in the world and I used to listen to news about it the
same way one would listen now to news about New York or London or Paris." (5)
The family house was a small one made of mud brick; they owned no other property.
When she was about five years old, Umm Kulthum entered the kuttab, or Qur'an school,
in her village that her older brother Khalid attended. Upon the death of the shaykh their
teacher, the children were sent to the school in the neighboring village of @izbat
al-Hawwal, several kilometers away. Umm Kulthum remained a student there for three
years. (6) In the rural school, Umm Kulthum memorized sections of the Qur'an and also
may have acquired rudimentary skills in reading and writing.
Umm Kulthum learned to sing from her father. She overheard him teachings songs to
her brother, who was supposed to accompany his father at the celebrations for which
al-Shaykh Ibrahim sang. Umm Kulthum learned the songs by rote. When al-Shaykh
Ibrahim discovered what she had learned and heard the unusual strength of her voice,
he asked her to join the lessons. Umm Kulthum began performing in her own village at
the house of the @umdah on an occasion when Khalid felt ill.
Because of her youth and exceptionally strong voice, the child became an attraction for
the group and eventually its premiere singer. As their opportunities increased, the
family traveled farther and farther afield, often on foot. Umm Kulthum later reflected that
it seemed to her they walked the entire Delta before they ever set foot in Cairo. (7) They
were able to charge increasingly large fees, rising to 10£E ($50) per evening by 1920.
A number of people encouraged Umm Kulthum and her father to consider going to
Cairo to further her career in the center of the entertainment business. Her family was
reluctant to do this, saying they did not know the city and had no close relatives nor any
assurance of work there. The subject of Cairo remained under discussion for several
years.
The Move to Cairo
The move was finally accomplished in about 1923 with the aid of musical mashayaikh
from the city with whom Umm Kulthum and her father had established contact. They
helped the young girl find performing opportunities and meet the theatrical agents who
were essential to sustaining a career in the entertainment world at the time. Umm
Kulthum's chief mentor in this endeavor was al-Shaykh Abu al-@ila Muhammad, a
composer and singer who also became her principal teacher.
Umm Kulthum's voice was quickly identified as exceptionally strong and vibrant and
garnered immediate notice in the press. However her talent was viewed as
unschooled: she lacked command of the vocal subtlety and melodic nuance expected
of a first-rank singer as well as the requisite stage presence of the established singers
of the day.
She set out to improve her skills in all areas. Her father hired numerous music
teachers: al-Shaykh Abu al-@ila introduced her to poet Ahmad Rami who taught her
poetry and improved her command of literary Arabic. She emulated the dress and
manners of the elite ladies in whose homes she sang and even became personal
friends with a few of them.
When Umm Kulthum began singing in Cairo, her repertory consisted in large part of
that sung by her father in the Delta, augmented by a few popular songs that she had
learned along the way. Her father's repertory was customarily sung by a solo vocalist
with accompaniment by a chorus of two to four men. I the Cairo of the 1920s, this style
of performance was viewed as old-fashioned; new songs, and even the older repertory
of singers such as Abu al-@ila, were accompanied by an instrumental takht.
Following hints in the spring of 1926 that she should not succeed in the long run
accompanied by her family, she hired accomplished and prestigious instrumentalists
in their place. Her repertory of religious qasa'id and tawashih gave way to new and
modern love songs composed especially for her. This change, accompanied by Umm
Kulthum's increasingly elegant personal style, thrust her into direct competition with the
city's leading singers. Her trained voice, her new repertory and takht, and her more
cosmopolitan demeanor enabled her to rise to the top of the ranks of Cairo's
professional singers by 1928.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Umm Kulthum began to make commercial recordings
and launched her life-long involvement with mass media, essential to her long and
extensive popularity. Her commitments later expanded to include radio, from the
inception of Egyptian National Radio in 1934, films, which she began in 1935, and
television in 1960.
Her financial success in commercial recording stabilized her income and enabled her
to choose her performing opportunities with greater care than was possible for less
fortunate entertainers. Radio broadcasting allowed her to count among her most
devoted listeners hundreds of thousands of Egyptians and Arabs who had never seen
her and would not dream of attending a public concert. While valuing the live audience
as integral to her artistry, Umm Kulthum cultivated as her audience all listeners,
including the vast numbers sitting in homes and coffee shops near a radio. She used
broadcast interviews as well to establish rapport with the radio audience and to identify
herself as a familiar figure to them.
Her command of the art of the interview, and hence the projection of a particular
persona, was hard-won during the 1920s and 1930s. A number unfortunate blunders
with journalists left her wary of uncontrolled contact with representatives of the media.
She began to court selected journalists to whom she would grant interviews and who
would, in turn, support her in print. She guarded her private life carefully, cultivated
friends who did the same, and would speak to reporters only on topics of her own
choosing, promulgating carefully expressed opinions and views of herself.
Her increasing musical skill and financial stability in the 1930s allowed her to assume
great control over all aspects of her performances. As sis most entertainers who were
able, Umm Kulthum eliminated the theatrical agent from her professional life as soon
as possible. She used her circle of carefully chosen friends as advisors and
sometimes representatives and, by 1938, became the producer of her own concerts
and negotiator of her own contracts. She was able to obtain extraordinary contracts that
called for her approval of virtually every aspect of a performance, including selection of
accompanists, and actors and technicians for her films.
During the 1930s, her repertory took the first of several specific stylistic directions. Her
songs were virtuosic, as befit her newly trained and very capable voice, and romantic
and modern in musical style, feeding the prevailing currents in Egyptian popular culture
of the time. She worked extensively with texts by romantic poet Ahmad Rami and
composer Muhammad al-Qsabji, who's songs incorporated European instruments
such as the violoncello and double bass as well as harmony.
The "Golden Age" of Umm Kulthum
Umm Kulthum's musical directions in the 1940s and early 1950s and her mature
performing style caused this period to be popularly called 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 Bayram al-Tunisi cast in styes considered to be indigenously Egyptian. This
represented a dramatic departure from the modernist romantic songs of the 1930s.
The result was a populist repertory that had lasting appeal for the Egyptian audience.
Later in the decade, Umm Kulthum engaged the young composer Riyad al-Sunbati to
set a number of qasa'id by Ahmad Shawqi. The result was stylistically different from
Zakariya and Bayram's songs but, as neo-classical works based on historically Arab
poetic and musical practices, they were also viewed as indigenously Arab and were
very well-received. These songs established al-Sunbati as the foremost composer of
qasa'id of his generation and returned Umm Kulthum to her genre of choice.
In addition to her various artistic endeavors, Umm Kulthum consolidated her authority in
the entertainment business during the 1940s by joining the Listening Committee,
which selected the music appropriate for radio broadcasting, and by assuming
presidency of the Musician's Union. At this point Umm Kulthum was at the height of her
artistic accomplishment, in control of virtually all of her endeavors, and highly influential
in the criitcal medium of radio broadcasting. She became known for the strength of her
personality which was manifest in many ways. She was determined that her views be
taken seriously and that her business proceed in a way that was satisfactory to her. She
was known for her sharp wit and barbed humor.(8) It was also often said that she was
extremely cutting when irritated or taxed. Pointing to her persistent quality of
unvanquished pride, Medhat Assem recalled a conversation with her during which he
reminded her that he had been present at one of her early performances for an elite
family. He remembered how terrified she had been that night, to which she retorted,
"No. They were afraid of me."(9)
Health problems plagued Umm Kulthum every few years for much of her life beginning
in the 1930s. She became ill resulting from some sort of problem with the liver and gall
bladder in the late summer of 1937 at which time doctors recommended treatment in
one of the countries having mineral waters. The following summer Umm Kulthum
spent a month at Vichy and returned to Egypt feeling better, "although," she said, "I am
bound by the limitations of a strict diet prohibiting most kinds of food." Related
problems afflicted her throughout her life. (10)
In 1946, personal problems thrust themselves on Umm Kulthum in such a way as to
disrupt her professional activities for the first time in her career. She worked
sporadically and contemplated retiring altogether. During the summer of 1946, she
became afflicted with an upper respiratory inflammation that led to the diagnosis of a
thyroid problem later that year. The physical symptoms of this ailment, combined with
her fear for her voice and of the ramifications of treatment, caused serious depression.
One of few people privy to Umm Kulthum's personal life later said that at no other time
before or since did she see Umm Kulthum in such a state of despair. "It was the only
time she lost her courage."(11)
In 1947, Umm Kulthum's mother died. the two women had lived in the same house for
all of Umm Kulthum's life and Umm Kulthum took her mother's death as a severe blow.
Later, during one of her trips to the United States for treatment, Umm Kulthum's brother
Khalid died. (12)At roughly the same time Umm Kulthum suffered the termination of a
romantic involvement and a subsequent failed marriage.
Her recovery was a prolonged process. She was treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital,
ostensibly at the suggestion of the American ambassador to Egypt in 1949. Umm
Kulthum also sought treatment for chronic inflammation of the eyes, said to be
aggravated by the bright lights of the stage and film. the thyroid problem persisted and
required repeated visits to hospitals in Egypt and abroad. (13)
Questions about Umm Kulthum's personal life, especially that of why she had never
married, followed Umm Kulthum from the time she began her career in Cairo until she
married Dr. Hasan al-Hifnawi in 1954. In the 1920s she was linked with a number of
men, including poet Ahmad Rami. Her apparent strong will, sharp tongue and absence
of any lasting close personal involvements prompted the assessment that "she has no
heart." Another that, "like Greta Garbo" she had been disappointed in love early in life
and could not love another. (14)
By dint of fame and her efforts to improve her manners and general education, Umm
Kulthum had risen in Egyptian society to the point of socializing with members of the
Egyptian elite. (15) In about 1946, Sharif Sabri Pasha, one of King Faruq's uncles,
proposed to marry her. The union was immediately barred by the royal family, causing
much grief to Umm Kulthum. That such a marriage could have been contemplated
seriously at all was a source of amazement to may observers. However, having
succeeded in attaining the position she had, Umm Kulthum seems to have believed
that the marriage would be possible and was gravely disappointed when it was not.(16)
Feeling the disappointment of the broken engagement and the burdens of medical
problems, Umm Kulthum agreed to marry a fellow musician, the @ud player, composer
and them vice-president of the Musician's Union, Mahmud Sharif. The marriage was
dissolved within days, regarded by both parties as a mistake, amid a tremendous
outcry of protest from Umm Kulthum's fans who attacked the character, personal status,
and abilities of Mahmud Sharif. "as if the man had not a single good quality." (17)
Finally Umm Kulthum married one of her doctors and a long-time audience member,
Dr. Hasan al-Hifnawi, in 1954. Born in Asyut in 1915, Dr. al-Hifnawi was raised in a
conservative atmosphere similar to Umm Kulthum's. Both were familiar with rural Egypt
and the values and behaviors common to it. Both were ambitious. Both were
successful. al-Hifnawi finished medical school in 1940 and became on of the most
noted skin specialists in the Arab world. However, in addition to the learning and
elegance that both of them had acquired, they retained a sense of identity with most
Egyptians. Dr. al-Hifnawi was less a public figure; however, he was described by his
son, with a certain pride, as "a 'baladi' sort of man" in his personal life. Like so many
others, al-Hifnawi nad been brought to Umm Kulthum's concerts and introduced to her
by Ahmad Rami. (18) This union met with the acceptance of her audience apparently
because, during the time of her illness, people came to see Umm Kulthum as a human
being with a personal life and human needs similar to their own rather than an
immutable star. Her husband remained in the shadows when Umm Kulthum appeared
in public. However, according to family members and close friends and close friends,
he maintained the status of head of the household. She appreciated his
accomplishments and strength of character for, as all observers agreed, "Umm
Kulthum hated weak men."
Later years
Like many of her compatriots, Umm Kulthum welcomed the Egyptian Revolution of
1952 with enthusiasm. Her connections to the previous regime were not close enough
to place her career in jeopardy, and the Revolutionary Government demonstrated
eagerness to continue public entertainments, especially radio broadcasting, in an
uninterrupted manner. Her improved health enabled her to resume her normal
schedule of appearances in about 1955. At the same time, Umm Kulthum sought new
modern love songs from the younger generation of composers. Her cultivation of this
new modernity culminated in collaboration with premier composer Muhammad @abd
al-Wahab (b. 1910). In 1964, they produced the very popular song, "Inta @Umri," which
was the first of ten by @abd al-Wahab for Umm Kulthum .
The careers of the two artists ran parallel to each other for most of their lives. @abd
al-Wahab began his career in musical theater ca. 1917 and became a highly regarded
singer and composer. His principal mentor was poet Ahmad Shawqi who wrote
numerous elegant lyrics for @abd al-Wahab. Umm Kulthum became acquainted with
him during the 1920s. Both remember the first meeting as being at one of the salons of
Cairo., the home of Mahmud Khayrat al-Nuhami, where they entertained the other
guests with a spontaneous rendition of Sayyid Darwish's popular song "@ala qadd
al-Layl". (19) @abd al-Wahab starred in a number of successful films during the 1930s
and 1940s and thereafter was viewed as a prestigious and innovative composer. A
self-proclaimed modernist, @abd al-Wahab evinced extensive interest in new
instruments and commanded a wide variety of styles, Arab and Western.
During the 1950s and 1960s Umm Kulthum expanded her role in Egyptian public life.
She granted more interviews during which she spoke about her life, repeatedly
identifying herself as a villager, a fallahah or peasant, who shared a cultural
background and essential values with the majority of the Egyptian populace. Her
interviews were full of stories of her family, her neighbors, and the familial qualities of
village life. (20)
She cultivated the position of spokeswoman for various causes. She advocated
governmental support of Arabic music and musicians, she endowed a charitable
foundation and, most importantly, after the Egyptian defeat in the 1967 war, she began
a series of domestic and international concerts for Egypt. She travelled throughout
Egypt and the Arab world, collecting contributions and donating the proceeds of her
performances to the government of Egypt. These concerts were much publicized and
took on the character of state visits. Umm Kulthum was entertained by heads of state,
she toured cultural monuments, and, in interviews, repeated her views concerning the
importance of support for indigenous Arab culture. More than a musician, she became
"the voice and face of Egypt". (21)
The health problems that plagued Umm Kulthum throughout much of her adult life
worsened as she aged. her eyes remained hypersensitive to light and in her later
years, she wore dark glasses almost all the time. Beginning in 1971, Umm Kulthum's
health deteriorated dramatically. In March of that year, she suffered a gall bladder attack
which resulted in the postponement of her March and April concerts. The following
winter, she was struck with a serious kidney infection that forced the cancellation of two
more concerts in February and March of 1972. (22)
During the first concert of the following season, in December of 1972, Umm Kulthum
felt faint during the program. She sang the entire concert, but it was her last. Failing
health caused her to cancel the remainder of the season and, although she constantly
planned to perform again, she never did so. She spent her time from the winter of 1973
through the summer of 1974 traveling to Europe and the United States to kidney
specialists and suffering continually from weak health. (23)
The song "Hakam @alayna al-hawa'" was scheduled for premiere in the spring of
1973. As was her custom, Umm Kulthum planned to record it before its first
performance. She did so with great difficulty on March 13, 1973. The recording occupied
twelve hours. For the first time, she sang while sitting in a chair, quietly brought to her by
a recording engineer who saw that she was too weak to remain standing. the concert at
which the song was to have been premiered was cancelled and the recording was
released, never having been performed for a live audience. (24) On January 21, 1975,
she suffered the final kidney attack that led to her death on February 3. Despite years of
medical treatment, she resisted hospitalization at this time, saying that "If I go to the
hospital, I'll die there." (25) Her last illness was accompanied by a vigil of watchful
Egyptians outside her home in Zamalik and later, by a phalanx of reporters from all over
the Arab world at the hospital. The Syrian national radio station installed an open
telephone line to the hospital to provide its listeners with an up-to-the-minute reports of
her health. Egypt's principal newspaper, al-ahram, published daily bulletins on her
health. (26)
She died of heart failure on February 3, 1975. Her funeral was to be held at the @Umar
Makram mosque in central Cairo, the site of most funerals for well-known Muslims in
the city. From there, the body was to be carried by pall-bearers for a short distance to a
vehicle that would take it to its final resting place. (27)When the responsible parties
realized the number of mourners who planned to come from outside Egypt, the
postponed the funeral for two days, contrary to Muslim preferences but not unusual for
famous people.
The crowds of ordinary Egyptians far exceeded the number anticipated. literally filling
the streets of Cairo, and the funeral did not proceed as planned. (28) The millions of
Egyptian mourners took the body from the shoulders of its official bearers and bore it
themselves by turns, carrying it for three hours through the streets of Cairo, eventually to
the mosque of al-Sayyid Husayn, believed to be one of Umm Kulthum's favorites. There
the shaykh of the mosque repeated the funerary prayers over the body and urged its
bearers to take it directly to its burial place, saying that Umm Kulthum was a religious
woman who would have wanted to be buried quickly in accordance with Muslim
practices, and this was finally done.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) In Egyptian families, children usually adopted their father's name(s) shortening it to
obtain an accurate and distinctive patronymic. Thus Umm Kulthum's name was Umm
Kulthum Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Baltaji and she generally used Umm Kulthum Ibrahim.
Women retained their father's names after marriage.
(2) Muhammad Sabri al-Zalfi, "Milad al-Khalidah Umm Kulthum" (The Birthdate of the
Eternal Umm Kulthum) al-Akhbar (January 4, 1976); "Tarikh Milad Umm Kulthum
al-Haqiq" (The Real Birthdate of Umm Kulthum) al-Ahram (February 1, 1975).
(3) Zakariya Ahmad, "Kayfa qabiltu Umm Kulthum" (How I met Umm Kulthum)
al-Kawakib (April 1949), p. 20.
(4) Shusha, 7; @awad, 70; "@indama talabitni Umm Kulthum..." (When Umm Kulthum
requested me) al-Kawakib, No. 1592 (February 2, 1982), p. 17; "@umdat al-Sai@ah
yaqul..." (The Chief Listener Speak ...) al-Kawakib No. 1592 (February 2, 1982), p. 13.
(5) Quoted in Fu'ad, 106-107; the @umdah was the village leader, usually a relatively
large land-holder and a respected man with a strong personality. 99% of the residents
of Tammay al-Zahayrah were Muslim. 1% were Christian. 98% were illiterate (Egyptian
Government. Ta@dad Sukkan, 422-23).
(6) @awad, 11, 14, 15; Shushah, 7, 9; al-Masri, 5; compare Taha Husayn's description
of a shaykh and his kuttab, dating from about ten years earlier in chapters 5-10 of
Egyptian Childhood.
(7) @awad, 16, 24.
(8) Inexpensive biographies frequently contain pages devoted to her jokes and
witticisms, often at the expense of others.
(9) Personal communication, January 28, 1986.
(10) Ruz al-Yusuf No. 268 (April 3, 1933) p. 37; No. 269 (April 10, 1933) p. 29; Akhir
Sa@ah No. 163 (August 22, 1937) p. 40; al-Radyu al-Misri No. 183 (September 1938)
reprinted in al-Idh@ah wa-al-Tilifizyun No. 2665 (April 12, 1986) p. 40.
(11) Samirah Abazah, quoted by Hasan Mahassab "Sadiqat al-@umr Umm Kulthum"
(The Lifetime Friend of Umm Kulthum) al-Idh@ah wa-al-Tilifizyun (February 7, 1976);
al-Radyu al-Misri No. 601 (September 21, 1946) p. 5.
(12) Sharif Abazah, "Dhikrayat" (Memories) in Umm Kulthum: al-Naghm al-Khalid, 42;
Fu'ad, 277, 287-88; @Awad, 124.
(13)Shusha, 82. A by-product of the first trip was the improvement of treatment for
thyroid problems in Egypt. Umm Kulthum invited her American doctor to visit Egypt and
arranged for him to discuss the feasibility of establishing a treatment center. She
contributed 5,000 £E to the purchase of equipment and the center was established at
the College of Medicine at @Ayn Shams University ("Hal Tashawwah Tasjilat Umm
Kulthum?" (Will Umm Kulthum's tapes be Ruined?) Uktubir (February 5, 1978) p. 73);
@Abd al-Fattah Ghaban "Bayram yatahaddath @an Umm Kulthum..." (Bayram Speaks
about Umm Kulthum) Ruz al-Yusuf (March 24, 1975).
(14)The recipient of her early affections was variously thought to be her cousin Sabr,
another cousin (whom she was said to have married and who subsequently became
seriously ill and had been hospitalized), and a young @ud player who left her because
he believed he could never keep pace with her career (al-Sabah No. 96 (July 3, 1928)p.
11; al-Kashkul No. 58 (June 25, 1922) p. 4; Umm Kulthum Qitharah...., 34; Ruz al-Yusuf
No. 234 (August 8, 1932) pp. 24-25; No. 185 (August 31, 1930) p. 18). Two other suitors
mentioned were Hifni Bay al-Darini and his former employer, Prince @Umar Ibrahim,
whom there is no indication that she had ever met (Ruz al-Yusuf No. 80 (May 19, 1927)
p. 12). One of the more bizarre reports involved a villager from Upper Egypt who filed a
lawsuit against her claiming that he was her husband and demanding that she return
to his house. Umm Kulthum was compelled to appear in court to defend herself
(Shushah, 72; Fu'ad, 222).
(15) In 1931, for instance, she was received by the family of the eminent politician, Fath
Allah Barakat, not as a paid performer but as a family acquaintance, come to offer
congratulations on the birth of a son (Ruz al-Yusuf No. 194 (November 2, 1931), p. 18).
(16) Personal communication from Dr. Buthaynah Farid, a member of Sharif Sabri's
family, January 7, 1985.
(17) Fu'ad, 272; in fact, judging by various reports over the long run, Mahmud Sharif was
a kind man and a musician of some considerable talents.
(18) Interview, Dr. Muhammad Hasan al-Hifnawi, August 22, 1982; Hassan al-Hifnawi,
"Dhikrayati" (My Memories) in Wia@an ... , 6; Shusha, 75.
(19) Mahmud Khayrat was the father of the Egyptian composer Abu Bakr Khayrat;
Darwish's well-known song is from the play "al-@asharah al-Tayyibah", first performed
by Najib al-Rihani's troupe on March 15, 1920. @abd al-Wahab placed this meeting in
about 1923 (Ahmad @abd al-Hamid "al-Laylah ... Tishar al-Malayin ma@a Umm
Kulthum..." (Tonight ... the Millions sit up with Umm Kulthum) al-Jumhuriyah (March 17,
1965)); @awad dated the meeting in 1927 (p. 132; Fu'ad, 125).
(20) In fact, Umm Kulthum maintained a certain closeness to her village and its people
all her life. Nieces, nephews, and some of their children from the village moved into her
Cairo home. Her first major expenditure, before buying a residence in Cairo, was for
land in Tammay al-Zahayrah. While she rarely visited the village, she received villagers
who came to Cairo to ask for her assistance and considerable influence and their
requests were frequently met. In her later years, she financed the building of a new
school, a mosque, a medical center and a cultural center in the village (Fu'ad, 368). She
also reportedly used her influence to ensure that her village was among the first to
receive electric power lines (Farjani, in Wida@an..., 65).
(21) "Ghannit lil-hubb.... fa jama@it 76,000 Jinayh lil-Harb" (She sang of love ... and
collected 76,000 £E for War) Akhbar al-Yawm (June 19, 1967).
(22) Abu Nazarah, "Sawt Umm Kulthum bi-Alhan Sayyid Makawi" (The Voice of Umm
Kulthum in a Song by Sayyid Makawi) al-Akhbar (April 6, 1972) p. 8.
(23) Muhammad Wajdi Qandil "Rihlat al-Bahth @an al-Amal" (Trips in Search of Hope)
Akhir Sa@ah No. 2102 (February 5, 1975) p. 25; Wajdi Riyad, "Rihlat al-Marad Kamilah
Ma@a Umm Kulthum" (All of the Trips of the Sick with Umm Kulthum) al-Ahram
(February 4, 1975) p. 4; Shushah, 82-83.
(24) Shushah, 58; "al-Ughniyah al-Wahida .. " (The Only Song ... ) al-Kawakib No. 1592
(February 2, 1982) p. 19.
(25) She was not in fact taken to hospital until she lost consciousness following a
cerebral hemorrhage.
(26) Fu'ad claimed that this was the first time in the history of al-Ahram that it had
published such news about anyone (p. 477, 479).
(27) This scheme was a common one as it allowed for the traditional procession
without compelling mourners to walk the entire distance to the cemetery.
(28) For years thereafter it was said that Umm Kulthum's funeral had been larger than
than of President Nasser, or more than four million mourners ("Milyun Muwatan fi
Wida@ Umm Kulthum" (A Million Citizens bid farewell to Umm Kulthum) al-Ahram
(February 6, 1975) p. 1; Goldschmidt, Concise History ..., 291).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This dissertation is available from University Microfilms International (UMI), 300 North
Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48 106 - 1346, USA. 313-761-4700 / 800-521-0600
Danielson and has been transcribed from:
Shaping tradition in Arabic song: The career and repertory of Umm Kulthum.
Virginia Louise Danielson,
University of Illinois, 1991
Ph.D. thesis - pages 57 - 75
Umm Kulthum: An Outline of her Life
Childhood
Umm Kulthum was born in a small rural village to a poor family. Her background
typified that of the mashayikh and did not differ substantially from that of many of her
contemporaries. Her father, al-Shaykh Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Baltaji (d. 1932), was the
imam of the local mosque, and her mother, Fatmah al-Maliji (d. 1947), was a
housewife. (1) Her date of birth is not known for certain, but the most reliable
suggestion is May 4, 1904, given on a page from the Daqahliyah provincial birth records
for Tammay al-Zahayrah. (2)
Umm Kulthum's father augmented his meager income from the mosque by singing
religious songs for weddings and other celebrations in his own and neighboring
villages. Upon meeting him in 1917, Zakariya Ahmad remarked that he was "an
extremely devout and pious man" and so he seemed to many others who saw him later
in Cairo. (3) Umm Kulthum's mother cared for the children: Umm Kulthum, her sister,
Sayyidah, about ten years older than Umm Kulthum, and her brother, Khalid, who was
one year older. Umm Kulthum was her last child. She described her mother as a good
woman who lived simply and taught her children the importance of truth, humility and
trust in God. (4)
The family lived in the village of Tammay al-Zahayrah near the city of al-Sinbillawayn in
the Delta province of Daqahliyah (See Map 1). The village consisted of 278 dwellings
that housed 1,665 people, or about 6 people per hearth. As Umm Kulthum later
described it,
"It was a humble village. The highest building in it did not exceed two stories. The
greatest display of wealth was the @umdah's carriage pulled by one horse! . . And there
was only one street in the whole village wide enough for the @umdah's carriage . . . I
sang in the neighboring villages, all of which were small. I thought that the city of
al-Sinbillawayn was the biggest city in the world and I used to listen to news about it the
same way one would listen now to news about New York or London or Paris." (5)
The family house was a small one made of mud brick; they owned no other property.
When she was about five years old, Umm Kulthum entered the kuttab, or Qur'an school,
in her village that her older brother Khalid attended. Upon the death of the shaykh their
teacher, the children were sent to the school in the neighboring village of @izbat
al-Hawwal, several kilometers away. Umm Kulthum remained a student there for three
years. (6) In the rural school, Umm Kulthum memorized sections of the Qur'an and also
may have acquired rudimentary skills in reading and writing.
Umm Kulthum learned to sing from her father. She overheard him teachings songs to
her brother, who was supposed to accompany his father at the celebrations for which
al-Shaykh Ibrahim sang. Umm Kulthum learned the songs by rote. When al-Shaykh
Ibrahim discovered what she had learned and heard the unusual strength of her voice,
he asked her to join the lessons. Umm Kulthum began performing in her own village at
the house of the @umdah on an occasion when Khalid felt ill.
Because of her youth and exceptionally strong voice, the child became an attraction for
the group and eventually its premiere singer. As their opportunities increased, the
family traveled farther and farther afield, often on foot. Umm Kulthum later reflected that
it seemed to her they walked the entire Delta before they ever set foot in Cairo. (7) They
were able to charge increasingly large fees, rising to 10£E ($50) per evening by 1920.
A number of people encouraged Umm Kulthum and her father to consider going to
Cairo to further her career in the center of the entertainment business. Her family was
reluctant to do this, saying they did not know the city and had no close relatives nor any
assurance of work there. The subject of Cairo remained under discussion for several
years.
The Move to Cairo
The move was finally accomplished in about 1923 with the aid of musical mashayaikh
from the city with whom Umm Kulthum and her father had established contact. They
helped the young girl find performing opportunities and meet the theatrical agents who
were essential to sustaining a career in the entertainment world at the time. Umm
Kulthum's chief mentor in this endeavor was al-Shaykh Abu al-@ila Muhammad, a
composer and singer who also became her principal teacher.
Umm Kulthum's voice was quickly identified as exceptionally strong and vibrant and
garnered immediate notice in the press. However her talent was viewed as
unschooled: she lacked command of the vocal subtlety and melodic nuance expected
of a first-rank singer as well as the requisite stage presence of the established singers
of the day.
She set out to improve her skills in all areas. Her father hired numerous music
teachers: al-Shaykh Abu al-@ila introduced her to poet Ahmad Rami who taught her
poetry and improved her command of literary Arabic. She emulated the dress and
manners of the elite ladies in whose homes she sang and even became personal
friends with a few of them.
When Umm Kulthum began singing in Cairo, her repertory consisted in large part of
that sung by her father in the Delta, augmented by a few popular songs that she had
learned along the way. Her father's repertory was customarily sung by a solo vocalist
with accompaniment by a chorus of two to four men. I the Cairo of the 1920s, this style
of performance was viewed as old-fashioned; new songs, and even the older repertory
of singers such as Abu al-@ila, were accompanied by an instrumental takht.
Following hints in the spring of 1926 that she should not succeed in the long run
accompanied by her family, she hired accomplished and prestigious instrumentalists
in their place. Her repertory of religious qasa'id and tawashih gave way to new and
modern love songs composed especially for her. This change, accompanied by Umm
Kulthum's increasingly elegant personal style, thrust her into direct competition with the
city's leading singers. Her trained voice, her new repertory and takht, and her more
cosmopolitan demeanor enabled her to rise to the top of the ranks of Cairo's
professional singers by 1928.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Umm Kulthum began to make commercial recordings
and launched her life-long involvement with mass media, essential to her long and
extensive popularity. Her commitments later expanded to include radio, from the
inception of Egyptian National Radio in 1934, films, which she began in 1935, and
television in 1960.
Her financial success in commercial recording stabilized her income and enabled her
to choose her performing opportunities with greater care than was possible for less
fortunate entertainers. Radio broadcasting allowed her to count among her most
devoted listeners hundreds of thousands of Egyptians and Arabs who had never seen
her and would not dream of attending a public concert. While valuing the live audience
as integral to her artistry, Umm Kulthum cultivated as her audience all listeners,
including the vast numbers sitting in homes and coffee shops near a radio. She used
broadcast interviews as well to establish rapport with the radio audience and to identify
herself as a familiar figure to them.
Her command of the art of the interview, and hence the projection of a particular
persona, was hard-won during the 1920s and 1930s. A number unfortunate blunders
with journalists left her wary of uncontrolled contact with representatives of the media.
She began to court selected journalists to whom she would grant interviews and who
would, in turn, support her in print. She guarded her private life carefully, cultivated
friends who did the same, and would speak to reporters only on topics of her own
choosing, promulgating carefully expressed opinions and views of herself.
Her increasing musical skill and financial stability in the 1930s allowed her to assume
great control over all aspects of her performances. As sis most entertainers who were
able, Umm Kulthum eliminated the theatrical agent from her professional life as soon
as possible. She used her circle of carefully chosen friends as advisors and
sometimes representatives and, by 1938, became the producer of her own concerts
and negotiator of her own contracts. She was able to obtain extraordinary contracts that
called for her approval of virtually every aspect of a performance, including selection of
accompanists, and actors and technicians for her films.
During the 1930s, her repertory took the first of several specific stylistic directions. Her
songs were virtuosic, as befit her newly trained and very capable voice, and romantic
and modern in musical style, feeding the prevailing currents in Egyptian popular culture
of the time. She worked extensively with texts by romantic poet Ahmad Rami and
composer Muhammad al-Qsabji, who's songs incorporated European instruments
such as the violoncello and double bass as well as harmony.
The "Golden Age" of Umm Kulthum
Umm Kulthum's musical directions in the 1940s and early 1950s and her mature
performing style caused this period to be popularly called 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 Bayram al-Tunisi cast in styes considered to be indigenously Egyptian. This
represented a dramatic departure from the modernist romantic songs of the 1930s.
The result was a populist repertory that had lasting appeal for the Egyptian audience.
Later in the decade, Umm Kulthum engaged the young composer Riyad al-Sunbati to
set a number of qasa'id by Ahmad Shawqi. The result was stylistically different from
Zakariya and Bayram's songs but, as neo-classical works based on historically Arab
poetic and musical practices, they were also viewed as indigenously Arab and were
very well-received. These songs established al-Sunbati as the foremost composer of
qasa'id of his generation and returned Umm Kulthum to her genre of choice.
In addition to her various artistic endeavors, Umm Kulthum consolidated her authority in
the entertainment business during the 1940s by joining the Listening Committee,
which selected the music appropriate for radio broadcasting, and by assuming
presidency of the Musician's Union. At this point Umm Kulthum was at the height of her
artistic accomplishment, in control of virtually all of her endeavors, and highly influential
in the criitcal medium of radio broadcasting. She became known for the strength of her
personality which was manifest in many ways. She was determined that her views be
taken seriously and that her business proceed in a way that was satisfactory to her. She
was known for her sharp wit and barbed humor.(8) It was also often said that she was
extremely cutting when irritated or taxed. Pointing to her persistent quality of
unvanquished pride, Medhat Assem recalled a conversation with her during which he
reminded her that he had been present at one of her early performances for an elite
family. He remembered how terrified she had been that night, to which she retorted,
"No. They were afraid of me."(9)
Health problems plagued Umm Kulthum every few years for much of her life beginning
in the 1930s. She became ill resulting from some sort of problem with the liver and gall
bladder in the late summer of 1937 at which time doctors recommended treatment in
one of the countries having mineral waters. The following summer Umm Kulthum
spent a month at Vichy and returned to Egypt feeling better, "although," she said, "I am
bound by the limitations of a strict diet prohibiting most kinds of food." Related
problems afflicted her throughout her life. (10)
In 1946, personal problems thrust themselves on Umm Kulthum in such a way as to
disrupt her professional activities for the first time in her career. She worked
sporadically and contemplated retiring altogether. During the summer of 1946, she
became afflicted with an upper respiratory inflammation that led to the diagnosis of a
thyroid problem later that year. The physical symptoms of this ailment, combined with
her fear for her voice and of the ramifications of treatment, caused serious depression.
One of few people privy to Umm Kulthum's personal life later said that at no other time
before or since did she see Umm Kulthum in such a state of despair. "It was the only
time she lost her courage."(11)
In 1947, Umm Kulthum's mother died. the two women had lived in the same house for
all of Umm Kulthum's life and Umm Kulthum took her mother's death as a severe blow.
Later, during one of her trips to the United States for treatment, Umm Kulthum's brother
Khalid died. (12)At roughly the same time Umm Kulthum suffered the termination of a
romantic involvement and a subsequent failed marriage.
Her recovery was a prolonged process. She was treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital,
ostensibly at the suggestion of the American ambassador to Egypt in 1949. Umm
Kulthum also sought treatment for chronic inflammation of the eyes, said to be
aggravated by the bright lights of the stage and film. the thyroid problem persisted and
required repeated visits to hospitals in Egypt and abroad. (13)
Questions about Umm Kulthum's personal life, especially that of why she had never
married, followed Umm Kulthum from the time she began her career in Cairo until she
married Dr. Hasan al-Hifnawi in 1954. In the 1920s she was linked with a number of
men, including poet Ahmad Rami. Her apparent strong will, sharp tongue and absence
of any lasting close personal involvements prompted the assessment that "she has no
heart." Another that, "like Greta Garbo" she had been disappointed in love early in life
and could not love another. (14)
By dint of fame and her efforts to improve her manners and general education, Umm
Kulthum had risen in Egyptian society to the point of socializing with members of the
Egyptian elite. (15) In about 1946, Sharif Sabri Pasha, one of King Faruq's uncles,
proposed to marry her. The union was immediately barred by the royal family, causing
much grief to Umm Kulthum. That such a marriage could have been contemplated
seriously at all was a source of amazement to may observers. However, having
succeeded in attaining the position she had, Umm Kulthum seems to have believed
that the marriage would be possible and was gravely disappointed when it was not.(16)
Feeling the disappointment of the broken engagement and the burdens of medical
problems, Umm Kulthum agreed to marry a fellow musician, the @ud player, composer
and them vice-president of the Musician's Union, Mahmud Sharif. The marriage was
dissolved within days, regarded by both parties as a mistake, amid a tremendous
outcry of protest from Umm Kulthum's fans who attacked the character, personal status,
and abilities of Mahmud Sharif. "as if the man had not a single good quality." (17)
Finally Umm Kulthum married one of her doctors and a long-time audience member,
Dr. Hasan al-Hifnawi, in 1954. Born in Asyut in 1915, Dr. al-Hifnawi was raised in a
conservative atmosphere similar to Umm Kulthum's. Both were familiar with rural Egypt
and the values and behaviors common to it. Both were ambitious. Both were
successful. al-Hifnawi finished medical school in 1940 and became on of the most
noted skin specialists in the Arab world. However, in addition to the learning and
elegance that both of them had acquired, they retained a sense of identity with most
Egyptians. Dr. al-Hifnawi was less a public figure; however, he was described by his
son, with a certain pride, as "a 'baladi' sort of man" in his personal life. Like so many
others, al-Hifnawi nad been brought to Umm Kulthum's concerts and introduced to her
by Ahmad Rami. (18) This union met with the acceptance of her audience apparently
because, during the time of her illness, people came to see Umm Kulthum as a human
being with a personal life and human needs similar to their own rather than an
immutable star. Her husband remained in the shadows when Umm Kulthum appeared
in public. However, according to family members and close friends and close friends,
he maintained the status of head of the household. She appreciated his
accomplishments and strength of character for, as all observers agreed, "Umm
Kulthum hated weak men."
Later years
Like many of her compatriots, Umm Kulthum welcomed the Egyptian Revolution of
1952 with enthusiasm. Her connections to the previous regime were not close enough
to place her career in jeopardy, and the Revolutionary Government demonstrated
eagerness to continue public entertainments, especially radio broadcasting, in an
uninterrupted manner. Her improved health enabled her to resume her normal
schedule of appearances in about 1955. At the same time, Umm Kulthum sought new
modern love songs from the younger generation of composers. Her cultivation of this
new modernity culminated in collaboration with premier composer Muhammad @abd
al-Wahab (b. 1910). In 1964, they produced the very popular song, "Inta @Umri," which
was the first of ten by @abd al-Wahab for Umm Kulthum .
The careers of the two artists ran parallel to each other for most of their lives. @abd
al-Wahab began his career in musical theater ca. 1917 and became a highly regarded
singer and composer. His principal mentor was poet Ahmad Shawqi who wrote
numerous elegant lyrics for @abd al-Wahab. Umm Kulthum became acquainted with
him during the 1920s. Both remember the first meeting as being at one of the salons of
Cairo., the home of Mahmud Khayrat al-Nuhami, where they entertained the other
guests with a spontaneous rendition of Sayyid Darwish's popular song "@ala qadd
al-Layl". (19) @abd al-Wahab starred in a number of successful films during the 1930s
and 1940s and thereafter was viewed as a prestigious and innovative composer. A
self-proclaimed modernist, @abd al-Wahab evinced extensive interest in new
instruments and commanded a wide variety of styles, Arab and Western.
During the 1950s and 1960s Umm Kulthum expanded her role in Egyptian public life.
She granted more interviews during which she spoke about her life, repeatedly
identifying herself as a villager, a fallahah or peasant, who shared a cultural
background and essential values with the majority of the Egyptian populace. Her
interviews were full of stories of her family, her neighbors, and the familial qualities of
village life. (20)
She cultivated the position of spokeswoman for various causes. She advocated
governmental support of Arabic music and musicians, she endowed a charitable
foundation and, most importantly, after the Egyptian defeat in the 1967 war, she began
a series of domestic and international concerts for Egypt. She travelled throughout
Egypt and the Arab world, collecting contributions and donating the proceeds of her
performances to the government of Egypt. These concerts were much publicized and
took on the character of state visits. Umm Kulthum was entertained by heads of state,
she toured cultural monuments, and, in interviews, repeated her views concerning the
importance of support for indigenous Arab culture. More than a musician, she became
"the voice and face of Egypt". (21)
The health problems that plagued Umm Kulthum throughout much of her adult life
worsened as she aged. her eyes remained hypersensitive to light and in her later
years, she wore dark glasses almost all the time. Beginning in 1971, Umm Kulthum's
health deteriorated dramatically. In March of that year, she suffered a gall bladder attack
which resulted in the postponement of her March and April concerts. The following
winter, she was struck with a serious kidney infection that forced the cancellation of two
more concerts in February and March of 1972. (22)
During the first concert of the following season, in December of 1972, Umm Kulthum
felt faint during the program. She sang the entire concert, but it was her last. Failing
health caused her to cancel the remainder of the season and, although she constantly
planned to perform again, she never did so. She spent her time from the winter of 1973
through the summer of 1974 traveling to Europe and the United States to kidney
specialists and suffering continually from weak health. (23)
The song "Hakam @alayna al-hawa'" was scheduled for premiere in the spring of
1973. As was her custom, Umm Kulthum planned to record it before its first
performance. She did so with great difficulty on March 13, 1973. The recording occupied
twelve hours. For the first time, she sang while sitting in a chair, quietly brought to her by
a recording engineer who saw that she was too weak to remain standing. the concert at
which the song was to have been premiered was cancelled and the recording was
released, never having been performed for a live audience. (24) On January 21, 1975,
she suffered the final kidney attack that led to her death on February 3. Despite years of
medical treatment, she resisted hospitalization at this time, saying that "If I go to the
hospital, I'll die there." (25) Her last illness was accompanied by a vigil of watchful
Egyptians outside her home in Zamalik and later, by a phalanx of reporters from all over
the Arab world at the hospital. The Syrian national radio station installed an open
telephone line to the hospital to provide its listeners with an up-to-the-minute reports of
her health. Egypt's principal newspaper, al-ahram, published daily bulletins on her
health. (26)
She died of heart failure on February 3, 1975. Her funeral was to be held at the @Umar
Makram mosque in central Cairo, the site of most funerals for well-known Muslims in
the city. From there, the body was to be carried by pall-bearers for a short distance to a
vehicle that would take it to its final resting place. (27)When the responsible parties
realized the number of mourners who planned to come from outside Egypt, the
postponed the funeral for two days, contrary to Muslim preferences but not unusual for
famous people.
The crowds of ordinary Egyptians far exceeded the number anticipated. literally filling
the streets of Cairo, and the funeral did not proceed as planned. (28) The millions of
Egyptian mourners took the body from the shoulders of its official bearers and bore it
themselves by turns, carrying it for three hours through the streets of Cairo, eventually to
the mosque of al-Sayyid Husayn, believed to be one of Umm Kulthum's favorites. There
the shaykh of the mosque repeated the funerary prayers over the body and urged its
bearers to take it directly to its burial place, saying that Umm Kulthum was a religious
woman who would have wanted to be buried quickly in accordance with Muslim
practices, and this was finally done.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) In Egyptian families, children usually adopted their father's name(s) shortening it to
obtain an accurate and distinctive patronymic. Thus Umm Kulthum's name was Umm
Kulthum Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Baltaji and she generally used Umm Kulthum Ibrahim.
Women retained their father's names after marriage.
(2) Muhammad Sabri al-Zalfi, "Milad al-Khalidah Umm Kulthum" (The Birthdate of the
Eternal Umm Kulthum) al-Akhbar (January 4, 1976); "Tarikh Milad Umm Kulthum
al-Haqiq" (The Real Birthdate of Umm Kulthum) al-Ahram (February 1, 1975).
(3) Zakariya Ahmad, "Kayfa qabiltu Umm Kulthum" (How I met Umm Kulthum)
al-Kawakib (April 1949), p. 20.
(4) Shusha, 7; @awad, 70; "@indama talabitni Umm Kulthum..." (When Umm Kulthum
requested me) al-Kawakib, No. 1592 (February 2, 1982), p. 17; "@umdat al-Sai@ah
yaqul..." (The Chief Listener Speak ...) al-Kawakib No. 1592 (February 2, 1982), p. 13.
(5) Quoted in Fu'ad, 106-107; the @umdah was the village leader, usually a relatively
large land-holder and a respected man with a strong personality. 99% of the residents
of Tammay al-Zahayrah were Muslim. 1% were Christian. 98% were illiterate (Egyptian
Government. Ta@dad Sukkan, 422-23).
(6) @awad, 11, 14, 15; Shushah, 7, 9; al-Masri, 5; compare Taha Husayn's description
of a shaykh and his kuttab, dating from about ten years earlier in chapters 5-10 of
Egyptian Childhood.
(7) @awad, 16, 24.
(8) Inexpensive biographies frequently contain pages devoted to her jokes and
witticisms, often at the expense of others.
(9) Personal communication, January 28, 1986.
(10) Ruz al-Yusuf No. 268 (April 3, 1933) p. 37; No. 269 (April 10, 1933) p. 29; Akhir
Sa@ah No. 163 (August 22, 1937) p. 40; al-Radyu al-Misri No. 183 (September 1938)
reprinted in al-Idh@ah wa-al-Tilifizyun No. 2665 (April 12, 1986) p. 40.
(11) Samirah Abazah, quoted by Hasan Mahassab "Sadiqat al-@umr Umm Kulthum"
(The Lifetime Friend of Umm Kulthum) al-Idh@ah wa-al-Tilifizyun (February 7, 1976);
al-Radyu al-Misri No. 601 (September 21, 1946) p. 5.
(12) Sharif Abazah, "Dhikrayat" (Memories) in Umm Kulthum: al-Naghm al-Khalid, 42;
Fu'ad, 277, 287-88; @Awad, 124.
(13)Shusha, 82. A by-product of the first trip was the improvement of treatment for
thyroid problems in Egypt. Umm Kulthum invited her American doctor to visit Egypt and
arranged for him to discuss the feasibility of establishing a treatment center. She
contributed 5,000 £E to the purchase of equipment and the center was established at
the College of Medicine at @Ayn Shams University ("Hal Tashawwah Tasjilat Umm
Kulthum?" (Will Umm Kulthum's tapes be Ruined?) Uktubir (February 5, 1978) p. 73);
@Abd al-Fattah Ghaban "Bayram yatahaddath @an Umm Kulthum..." (Bayram Speaks
about Umm Kulthum) Ruz al-Yusuf (March 24, 1975).
(14)The recipient of her early affections was variously thought to be her cousin Sabr,
another cousin (whom she was said to have married and who subsequently became
seriously ill and had been hospitalized), and a young @ud player who left her because
he believed he could never keep pace with her career (al-Sabah No. 96 (July 3, 1928)p.
11; al-Kashkul No. 58 (June 25, 1922) p. 4; Umm Kulthum Qitharah...., 34; Ruz al-Yusuf
No. 234 (August 8, 1932) pp. 24-25; No. 185 (August 31, 1930) p. 18). Two other suitors
mentioned were Hifni Bay al-Darini and his former employer, Prince @Umar Ibrahim,
whom there is no indication that she had ever met (Ruz al-Yusuf No. 80 (May 19, 1927)
p. 12). One of the more bizarre reports involved a villager from Upper Egypt who filed a
lawsuit against her claiming that he was her husband and demanding that she return
to his house. Umm Kulthum was compelled to appear in court to defend herself
(Shushah, 72; Fu'ad, 222).
(15) In 1931, for instance, she was received by the family of the eminent politician, Fath
Allah Barakat, not as a paid performer but as a family acquaintance, come to offer
congratulations on the birth of a son (Ruz al-Yusuf No. 194 (November 2, 1931), p. 18).
(16) Personal communication from Dr. Buthaynah Farid, a member of Sharif Sabri's
family, January 7, 1985.
(17) Fu'ad, 272; in fact, judging by various reports over the long run, Mahmud Sharif was
a kind man and a musician of some considerable talents.
(18) Interview, Dr. Muhammad Hasan al-Hifnawi, August 22, 1982; Hassan al-Hifnawi,
"Dhikrayati" (My Memories) in Wia@an ... , 6; Shusha, 75.
(19) Mahmud Khayrat was the father of the Egyptian composer Abu Bakr Khayrat;
Darwish's well-known song is from the play "al-@asharah al-Tayyibah", first performed
by Najib al-Rihani's troupe on March 15, 1920. @abd al-Wahab placed this meeting in
about 1923 (Ahmad @abd al-Hamid "al-Laylah ... Tishar al-Malayin ma@a Umm
Kulthum..." (Tonight ... the Millions sit up with Umm Kulthum) al-Jumhuriyah (March 17,
1965)); @awad dated the meeting in 1927 (p. 132; Fu'ad, 125).
(20) In fact, Umm Kulthum maintained a certain closeness to her village and its people
all her life. Nieces, nephews, and some of their children from the village moved into her
Cairo home. Her first major expenditure, before buying a residence in Cairo, was for
land in Tammay al-Zahayrah. While she rarely visited the village, she received villagers
who came to Cairo to ask for her assistance and considerable influence and their
requests were frequently met. In her later years, she financed the building of a new
school, a mosque, a medical center and a cultural center in the village (Fu'ad, 368). She
also reportedly used her influence to ensure that her village was among the first to
receive electric power lines (Farjani, in Wida@an..., 65).
(21) "Ghannit lil-hubb.... fa jama@it 76,000 Jinayh lil-Harb" (She sang of love ... and
collected 76,000 £E for War) Akhbar al-Yawm (June 19, 1967).
(22) Abu Nazarah, "Sawt Umm Kulthum bi-Alhan Sayyid Makawi" (The Voice of Umm
Kulthum in a Song by Sayyid Makawi) al-Akhbar (April 6, 1972) p. 8.
(23) Muhammad Wajdi Qandil "Rihlat al-Bahth @an al-Amal" (Trips in Search of Hope)
Akhir Sa@ah No. 2102 (February 5, 1975) p. 25; Wajdi Riyad, "Rihlat al-Marad Kamilah
Ma@a Umm Kulthum" (All of the Trips of the Sick with Umm Kulthum) al-Ahram
(February 4, 1975) p. 4; Shushah, 82-83.
(24) Shushah, 58; "al-Ughniyah al-Wahida .. " (The Only Song ... ) al-Kawakib No. 1592
(February 2, 1982) p. 19.
(25) She was not in fact taken to hospital until she lost consciousness following a
cerebral hemorrhage.
(26) Fu'ad claimed that this was the first time in the history of al-Ahram that it had
published such news about anyone (p. 477, 479).
(27) This scheme was a common one as it allowed for the traditional procession
without compelling mourners to walk the entire distance to the cemetery.
(28) For years thereafter it was said that Umm Kulthum's funeral had been larger than
than of President Nasser, or more than four million mourners ("Milyun Muwatan fi
Wida@ Umm Kulthum" (A Million Citizens bid farewell to Umm Kulthum) al-Ahram
(February 6, 1975) p. 1; Goldschmidt, Concise History ..., 291).
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