Oum Kalthoum - أم كلثوم

Oum Kalthoum (en arabe : أم كلثوم), de son nom complet est Oum Kalthoum Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Beltagui, est une cantatrice, musicienne et actrice égyptienne, née à Tmaïe El Zahayira (Égypte) à une date non déterminée et morte le 3 février 1975 au Caire.

Surnommée l'« Astre d'Orient », elle est considérée, plus de trente ans après sa mort, comme la plus grande chanteuse du monde arabe.

Dotée d'un registre de contralto et de mezzosoprano, elle est connue pour sa voix puissante et ses chants consacrés à la religion, l'amour et la nation égyptienne. Son engagement dans des œuvres caritatives lui valut le surnom de « cantatrice du peuple » .

La date de naissance d'Oum Kalsoum n'est pas clairement établie. Certaines sources citent 1898, 1902 ou 1908 alors que les registres de la province d'Ad Daqahliyah indiquent la date du 4 mai 1904 comme celle de sa naissance. Cependant, il n'était pas rare, à cette époque là, et surtout dans les régions rurales, d'enregistrer les enfants plusieurs mois ou années après leur naissance. Il est donc fort probable qu'Oum Kalthoum fût née durant les toutes premières années du 20e siècle.

Oum Kalthoum nait dans une famille pauvre de trois enfants. Son nom est inspiré de celui de la troisième fille de Mahomet et Khadija. Sa sœur Sayyida est de dix ans son aînée et son frère Khalid d'un an. Sa mère Fatma al-Malījī est femme au foyer et son père, al-Shaykh Ibrāhīim al-Sayyid al-Baltājī, est imam. Afin d'augmenter les revenus de la famille, il chante régulièrement des chants religieux lors de mariages ou de divers cérémonies dans son village et aux alentours. La famille vit dans la petite ville de al-Sinbillawayn, dans le delta du Nil.

C'est en écoutant son père enseigner le chant à son frère aîné qu'Oum Kalthoum apprit à chanter. Elle apprenait certaines chansons par cœur et lorsque son père se rendit compte de ce qu'elle savait ainsi que de la puissance de sa voix, il lui demanda de se joindre aux leçons. Très jeune, la petite fille montre des talents de chanteuse exceptionnels, au point qu'à 10 ans, son père la fait entrer - déguisée en garçon - dans la petite troupe de cheikhs qu'il dirige pour y chanter durant les Mawlid et d'autres fêtes religieuses. À 16 ans, elle est remarquée par un chanteur alors très célèbre, Cheikh Abou El Ala Mohamed, et par un joueur de luth, Zakaria Ahmed, tous deux l'invitant à les accompagner au Caire. Elle attendra d'avoir atteint l'âge de 16 ans pour répondre à l'invitation, et pour se produire - toujours habillée en garçon - dans de petits théâtres, fuyant soigneusement toute mondanité.

Très vite, deux rencontres déterminent sa vie. Celle de Ahmed Rami tout d'abord, un poète qui lui écrira 137 chansons et l'initiera à la littérature française, qu'il a étudiée à la Sorbonne. Mohamed El Qasabji, ensuite - virtuose du luth, lui ouvre le Palais du théâtre arabe, l'occasion pour Oum Kalsoum de premiers grands succès (L'amoureux est trahi par ses yeux). En 1932, sa notoriété est telle qu'elle entame sa première tournée orientale : Damas, Bagdad, Beyrouth, Tripoli, etc. Cette célébrité lui permet également, en 1948, de rencontrer Gamal Abdel Nasser, qui ne cache rien de son admiration .Il officialise en quelque sorte l'amour de l'Égypte pour la chanteuse, amour réciproque puisque Oum Kalsoum donnera de nombreuses preuves de son patriotisme.

Parallèlement à sa carrière de chanteuse, elle s'essaie au cinéma (Weddad, 1936 ; Le chant de l'espoir, 1937 ; Dananir, 1940 ; Aïda, 1942 ; Sallama, 1945 et Fatma, 1947) mais délaisse assez vite le septième art, le face-à-face émotif avec le public lui faisant cruellement défaut. En 1953, elle épouse un homme qu'elle respecte et admire, son médecin depuis de nombreuses années, Hassen El Hafnaoui, en prenant soin d'inclure tout de même la clause du pouvoir à la dame qui lui permettrait de prendre elle-même la décision du divorce le cas échéant.

Multipliant les concerts internationaux, elle vient en France à l'Olympia (Paris) en novembre 1967 ; et le président Charles de Gaulle lui envoie un télégramme de félicitations. Celle que l'on surnomme El Sett (la dame) commence à souffrir de graves crises néphrétiques.

Avec sa voix puissante et claire (Maria Callas aurait dit qu'Oum Kalthoum avait une voix incomparable - 14 000 vibrations/seconde), Oum Kalthoum chante la religion, l'amour et la nation égyptienne. Amie du président Jamal Abdel Nasser, elle constitue avec l'homme politique l'un des symboles les plus forts de l'unité nationale égyptienne. Peu après la guerre de 1967 avec Israël, elle donne une série de concerts nationaux et internationaux, dont elle reverse les bénéfices au gouvernement égyptien.

La diva reste également dans les cœurs comme la « Cantatrice du peuple », s'investissant dans des œuvres caritatives en faveur des plus déshérités, et donnant elle-même de l'argent aux plus pauvres. L'une de ses biographies note qu'elle aurait aidé plus de deux cents familles de paysans au cours de sa vie. Revendiquant ses propres origines paysannes, la chanteuse a toujours vécu sans ostentation, souhaitant rester proche de la majorité de ses compatriotes.

À partir de 1967, Oum Kalthoum souffre de néphrite aiguë. En janvier 1973, elle donne son dernier concert au Palais du Nil et les examens qu'elle pratique à Londres montrent qu'elle est inopérable. Aux États-Unis, où son mari la conduit, elle bénéficie un temps des avancées pharmaceutiques mais en 1975, rentrée au pays, une crise très importante la contraint à l'hospitalisation. La population de son petit village natal du delta psalmodie toute la journée le Coran. Oum Kalthoum meurt le 3 février 1975 à l'aube.

Ses funérailles se déroulent à la mosquée Omar Makram du Caire où sont célébrés les plus grands musulmans. Le corps devait initialement être porté jusqu'à un véhicule qui l'aurait amené à sa dernière demeure mais face à l'afflux de personnes venues pleurer la chanteuse, et contrairement à la tradition musulmane, les autorités ont repoussé les obsèques de deux jours. Les funérailles d'Oum Kalthoum ont déclenché des scènes de détresses collectives et la foule venue saluer le corps a dépassé le nombre attendu. Des stars du cinéma, des poètes, des hommes d'affaires, des ambassadeurs, des ministres ainsi que de nombreux anonymes ont formé un cortège de plus d'1,5 km (pour environ trois millions de personnes), formant le deuxième plus grand rassemblement d'Égypte, après les funérailles de Nasser. Les Caïrotes se sont emparés du cercueil et l'ont promené pendant trois heures dans les rues du Caire avant de l'amener à la mosquée al-Sayyid Husayn, une des favorites d'Oum Kalthoum. Là, le cheïkh de la mosquée a répété les prières funéraires et a prié les porteurs d'amener le cercueil à sa tombe, arguant qu'Oum Kalthoum était une femme pieuse et qu'elle aurait voulu être enterrée rapidement comme le recommande la tradition musulmane . Elle a été enterrée auprès de ses parents et de son frère, au Caire.

Il est difficile de mesurer correctement l'étendue de sa voix car nombre de ses chansons ont été enregistrées en direct et elle prenait soin de ne pas forcer sa voix à cause de la durée de ses performances.

Oum Kalthoum a acquis sa technique de chant durant son enfance lorsqu'elle récitait des versets du Coran, ce qui lui a permis de développer sa voix car ces récitations requièrent une sensibilité musicale de l'oreille et des techniques proches des méthodes utilisées pour entraîner les chanteurs d'opéra ou de chœurs.

Charles de Gaulle l'appelait « La Dame » et Maria Callas « La Voix Incomparable ». En Égypte et au Moyen-Orient, Oum Kalsoum est considérée comme la plus grande chanteuse et musicienne. Aujourd'hui encore, elle jouit d'un statut presque mythique parmi les jeunes Égyptiens. Elle est également très populaire en Israël et en Palestine parmi les Juifs et les Arabes et ses disques se vendent encore à environ un million d'exemplaires par an.

En 2001, le gouvernement égyptien a inauguré le musée Kawkab al-Sharq ("astre de l'Orient") en mémoire de la chanteuse. Le musée abrite une série d'effets personnels ayant appartenu à Oum Kalthoum, dont ses célèbres lunettes de soleil et écharpes mais également des photos, des enregistrements et d'autres objets d'archives.

English :

Umm Kulthum (Arabic: أم كلثوم‎, born أم كلثوم إبراهيم البلتاجي , Umm Kulthum Ebrahim Elbeltagi; see Kunya; Egyptian Arabic: Om Kalsoum) (December 31, 1898-February 3, 1975). Various spellings include Om Koultoum, Om Kalthoum, Oumme Kalsoum and Umm Kolthoum. She was an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Tamay ez-Zahayra village that belongs to El Senbellawein, she is known as the Star of the East (kawkab el-sharq). More than three decades after her death, she is widely regarded as the greatest female singer in Arab music history.

Umm Kulthum was born in Tamay ez-Zahayra village in El Senbellawein, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt, in Dakahlia, in the Nile Delta, near the Mediterranean Sea. Her birth date is unconfirmed as birth registration was not enforced throughout the Arab world. The Egyptian Ministry of Information seems to have given either December 31, 1898, or December 31, 1904. She was likely born some time between these two dates.

At a young age, she showed exceptional singing talent. Her father, an Imam, taught her to recite the Qur'an, and she is said to have memorized the entire book. When she was 12 years old, her father disguised her as a young boy and entered her in a small performing troupe that he directed. At the age of 16 she was noticed by Abol Ela Mohamed, a modestly famous singer, who taught her the old classical repertoire. A few years later, she met the famous composer and oudist Zakariyya Ahmad, who invited her to come to Cairo. Although she made several visits to Cairo in the early 1920s, she waited until 1923 before permanently moving there. She was invited on several occasions to the house of Amin Beh Al Mahdy, who taught her how to play the oud (lute). She developed a very close relationship to Rawheya Al Mahdi, daughter of Amin, and became her closest friend. Kulthum even attended Rawheya's daughter's wedding, although she always tried to avoid public appearances.

Amin Al Mahdi introduced her to the cultural circles in Cairo. In Cairo, she carefully avoided succumbing to the attractions of the bohemian lifestyle, and indeed throughout her life stressed her pride in her humble origins and espousal of conservative values. She also maintained a tightly managed public image, which undoubtedly added to her allure.

At this point in her career, she was introduced by a friend Robert McClure to the famous poet Ahmad Rami, who wrote 137 songs for her. Rami also introduced her to French literature, which he greatly admired from his studies at the Sorbonne, Paris, and eventually became her head mentor in Arabic literature and literary analysis. Furthermore, she was introduced to the renowned oud virtuoso and composer Mohamed El Qasabgi. El Qasabgi introduced Umm Kulthum to the Arabic Theatre Palace, where she would experience her first real public success. In 1932, her fame increased to the point where she embarked upon a large tour of the Middle East, touring such cities as Damascus, Syria; Baghdad, Iraq; Beirut and Tripoli, Lebanon.

Umm Kulthum's establishment as one of the most famous and popular Arab singer was driven by several factors. During her early career years, she faced staunch competition from two prominent singers: Mounira El-Mahdiya and Fathiyya Ahmad, who had equally beautiful and powerful voices. However, Mounira had poor control over her voice and Fathiyya lacked the emotive vocal impact that Umm Kulthum's voice had. The presence of all these enabling vocal characteristics attracted the most famous composers, musicians, and lyricists to work with Umm Kulthum. In the mid 1920s, Mohammad el Qasabgi, who was the most virtuosic oud player and one of the most accomplished yet understated Arab composers of the 20th century, formed her small orchestra (takht) composed of the most virtuosic instrumentalists. Furthermore, unlike most of her contemporary artists who held private concerts, Umm Kulthum's performances were open to the general public, which contributed to the transition from classical and often elitist to popular Arabic music. By 1934, Umm Kulthum must have been one of the most famous singers in Egypt to be chosen as the artist to inaugurate Radio Cairo with her voice on May 31. Over the second half of the 1930s, two initiatives will seal the fate of Umm Kulthum as the most popular and famous Arab singer: her appearances in musical movies and the live broadcasting of her concerts performed on the first Thursday of each month of her musical season from October to June. Her influence kept growing and expanding beyond the artistic scene: the reigning royal family would request private concerts and even attend her public performances. In 1944, King Farouk I of Egypt decorated her with the highest level of orders (nishan el kamal), a decoration reserved exclusively to members of the royal family and politicians. Despite this recognition, the royal family rigidly opposed her potential marriage with the King's uncle, a rejection that deeply wounded her pride and led her to distance herself from the royal family and embrace grassroots causes, such as her answering the request of the Egyptian legion trapped in Falujah during the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict to sing a particular song. Among the army men trapped were the figures who were going to lead the bloodless revolution of July 23, 1952, prominently Gamal Abdel Nasser, arguably he was a fan of Umm Kulthum and who would later become the president of Egypt.

Early after the revolution, the Egyptian musicians guild of which she became a member (and eventually president) rejected her because she had sung for the then-deposed king, Farouk of Egypt. When Nasser discovered that her songs were forbidden from being aired on the radio, he reportedly said something to the effect of "What are they? Crazy? Do you want Egypt to turn against us?" It was his favor that made the musicians' guild accept her back into the fold. But it is uncertain if that happened. In addition, Umm Kulthum was a dedicated Egyptian patriot since the time of King Farouk. Some claim that Umm Kulthum's popularity helped Nasser’s political agenda. For example, Nasser’s speeches and other government messages were frequently broadcast immediately after Umm Kulthum's monthly radio concerts. Umm Kulthum was also known for her continuous contributions to charity works for the Egyptian military efforts. Umm Kulthum’s monthly concerts took place on the first Thursday of every month and were renowned for their ability to clear the streets of some of the world's most populous cities as people rushed home to tune in.

Her songs deal mostly with the universal themes of love, longing and loss. They are nothing short of epic in scale, with durations measured in hours rather than minutes. A typical Umm Kulthum concert consisted of the performance of two or three songs over a period of three to four hours. In the late 1960s, due to her age and weakened vocal abilities, she began to shorten her performances to two songs over a period of two and a half to three hours. These performances are in some ways reminiscent of the structure of Western opera, consisting of long vocal passages linked by shorter orchestral interludes. However, Umm Kulthum was not stylistically influenced by opera and she sang solo most of her career.

During the 1930s, her repertoire 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 Mohammad El-Qasabgi, whose songs incorporated European instruments such as the violoncello and double bass as well as harmony.

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 styles considered to be indigenously Egyptian. This represented a dramatic departure from the modernist romantic songs of the 1930s, mainly led by Mohammad El-Qasabgi, whom Umm Kulthum abstained from singing his music since the early 1940s, their last stage song collaboration being "Raq el habib" (The lover's heart softens), one of her most popular, intricate and high caliber songs (1941). The reason for this abstinence is not clear. It is speculated that this was due in part to the popular failure of the movie Aida, in which Umm Kulthum sings mostly Qasabgi's compositions, including the first part of the opera. Qasabgi was experimenting with Arabic music, under the influence of classical European music, and was composing a lot to Asmahan, a singer who immigrated to Egypt from Lebanon and was the only serious competitor for Umm Kulthum before her tragic death in a car accident in 1944. Simultaneously, Umm Kulthum started to rely heavily on a younger composer who joined her artistic team a few years earlier: Riad El-Sombati. While Sombati was evidently influenced by Qasabgi in those early years, the melodic lines he composed were more beautiful and more acceptable by Umm Kulthum's audience. The result of collaborations with Rami/Sombati and al-Tunisi/Ahmad was a populist and popular repertoire that had lasting appeal for the Egyptian audience. In 1946, Umm Kulthum defied all odds by presenting during her monthly concerts a religious poem in classical Arabic, "salou qalbi" (ask my heart), written by Ahmad Shawqi (the prince of poets) and composed by Sombati. The success was immediate and huge; it also reconnected Umm Kulthum with her early singing years, defined Sombati's unique style in composing and established him as the best composer of music for poems in classical Arabic, toppling Mohammad Abd el Wahab. Similar poems written by Shawqi were subsequently composed by Sombati and sung by Umm Kulthum, including "woulida el Houda" (the Prophet is born; 1949), in which she raised eyebrows of royalists by singing a verse that describes the Prophet Mohammad as "the Imam of Socialists". At the peak of her career, in 1950, Umm Kulthum sang Sombati's composition of excerpts of what Ahmad Rami considered the accomplishment of his career: the translation into classical Arabic of Omar Khayyam's quartets (Rubayyiat el Khayyam). The song included quartets that dealt with both epicurism and redemption. Ibrahim Nagy's poem Al-Atlal (the Ruins), composed by Sombati and premiered in 1966, is considered by many as Umm Kulthum's best song. While this is debatable as Umm Kulthum vocal abilities had regressed considerably by then, the song can be viewed as the last example of genuine Arabic music at a time when even Umm Kulthum had started to compromise by singing Western-influenced pieces composed by her old rival Mohammad Abd el Wahab.

The duration of Umm Kulthum's songs in performance was not fixed, but varied based on the level of emotive interaction between the singer and her audience and Umm Kulthum's own mood for creativity. An improvisatory technique, which was typical of old classical Arabic singing and that she wonderfully executed for as long as she could have (both her regressing vocal abilities with age and the increased Westernization of Arabic music became an impediment to this art), was to repeat a single line or stance over and over, subtly altering the emotive emphasis and intensity and exploring one or various musical modal scales (maqam) each time to bring her audiences into a euphoric and ecstatic state. For example, the available live performances (about 30) of "ya zalemni", one of her most popular songs, varied in length from 45 to 90 min, depending on both her creative mood for improvisations and the audience request for more repetitions, illustrating the dynamic relationship between the singer and the audience as they fed off each other's emotional energy. The spontaneous creativity of Umm Kulthum as a singer is most impressive when, upon listening to these many different renditions of the same song over a time span of 5 years (1954–1959), the listener is offered a totally unique and different experience. This intense, highly personalized relationship was undoubtedly one of the reasons for Umm Kulthum's tremendous success as an artist. Worth noting though that the length of a performance did not necessarily reflect either its quality or the improvisatory creativity of Umm Kulthum. Some of her best performances were 25-45 min in duration, such as the three available renditions, including the commercial version of El Awwila fi'l gharam (first in love), and ana fi intizarak (commercial and 3-3-1955 performance). On the other hand, her songs as of the mid 1960s would extend sometimes over a duration of two hours (premiere of Enta Omri, Enta el Hobb, etc.); however, the repetitions, mostly executed upon the request of the audience, were often devoid of creative musical improvisations and limited to vocal colorful variations on a syllable, letter or word.

Umm Kulthum has been a significant influence on a number of musicians, both in the Arab World and beyond. Among others, Jah Wobble has claimed her as a significant influence on his work. Bob Dylan has been quoted as saying, "She's great. She really is. Really great." Maria Callas, Jean-Paul Sartre, Marie Laforêt, Salvador Dalí, Nico, Bono, Farin Urlaub, and Led Zeppelin are also known to be admirers of Kulthum's music.[citation needed] Youssou N'Dour, a fan of hers since childhood, recorded his 2004 album Egypt with an Egyptian orchestra in homage to her legacy. One of her best known songs, "Enta Omri," has been the basis of many reinterpretations, including one 2005 collaborative project involving Israeli and Egyptian artists.

She was referred to as the Lady by Charles de Gaulle, and is regarded as the Incomparable Voice by Maria Callas. Umm Kulthum is remembered in Egypt, the Middle East, and the Arab world as one of the greatest singers and musicians to have ever lived. It is difficult to accurately measure her vocal range at its peak, as most of her songs were recorded live, and she was careful not to strain her voice due to the extended length of her songs. Even today, she has retained a near-mythical status among young Egyptians. She is also notably popular in Israel among Jews (of Mizrahi/Arab background) and Arabs alike, and her records continue to sell about a million copies a year. In 2001, the Egyptian government opened the Kawkab al-Sharq (Star of the East) Museum in the singer's memory. Housed in a pavilion on the grounds of Cairo's Manesterly Palace, the collection includes a range of Umm Kulthum's personal possessions, including her trademark sunglasses and scarves, along with photographs, recordings, and other archival material.

Kulthum had a contralto vocal range. It is known that she had the ability to sing as low as the second octave, as well as the ability to sing as high as between the seventh and the eighth octaves at her vocal peak;[citation needed] yet she also could easily sing over a range surpassing two octaves near the end of her career. Her ability to produce approximately 14,000 vibrations per second with her vocal cords[citation needed], her unparalleled vocal strength (no commercial microphone utilized for singing could withstand its strength, forcing her to stand at a 1- to 3-meter radius away from one[citation needed]), and her voice surpassed convention arguably made her the one of the most incomparable voices of the Arab world. Her ability and capability to sing every single Arabic scale made her one of only five women in the history of the Arab world to be able to do this, along with Asmahan, Fairouz, Sabah, and the late Thekra.

Español :

Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm al-Baltāǧī (en árabe, فاطمة إبراهيم البلتاجي), más conocida por su nombre artístico Umm Kalzum (أم كلثوم IPA:/ʔumm kalθūm/), fue una cantante egipcia, nacida el 4 de mayo de 1904 y muerta el 3 de febrero de 1975. Su nombre se encuentra transcrito también como Oum Kalsoum, Om Kalsoum, Om Kolthoum, Om Kolthum, Oum Kalthoum, Umm Kulthum, etc. En la transcripción SATTS: ʾUmm Kalṯūm. Es la cantante más conocida y reverenciada en el Mundo Árabe; fue un auténtico fenómeno social en los años 50 y 60 y sus álbumes figuran entre los más vendidos en el mundo (unos 200 millones de ejemplares en total), en su mayoría en los países árabes. Se la conoció también como la Señora de la Canción Árabe (سيدة الغناء العربي, Sayyīdat al-Ginā' al-Arabi) y como el Astro de Oriente (كوكب الشرق, Kawkab aš-Šarq). Es considerada una de las "Grandes"" del canto árabe junto con Mohammad Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez y Farid al-Atrash.

Umm Kalzum nació en Tamay az-Zahayra, Ad-Daqahliyya; la fecha exacta de su nacimiento es desconocida, si bien fue seguramente alrededor del 4 de mayo. Siendo joven, demostró tener un gran talento para cantar, de modo que cuando tenía 12 años, su padre la disfrazó como un chico joven y la introdujo en una pequeña actuación que él dirigía. Cuatro años después se fijaron en ella un famoso cantante, Abu l-Ala' Muhammad, y un famoso intérprete de laúd, Zakariya Ahmad, y le pidieron que les acompañara a El Cairo. Esperó a tener 23 años para aceptar su invitación; mientras tanto actuaba como un chico en pequeños teatros.

En su carrera musical tuvieron gran peso dos personas: la primera, el poeta Ahmad Rami, que escribiría 137 canciones para Umm Kalzum y la iniciaría en la literatura francesa que él había estudiado en la Sorbona. La otra persona fue Muhammad al-Qasabgi, un virtuoso del laúd que introdujo a Umm Kalzum en el Palacio del Teatro Árabe, donde tendría sus primeros grandes éxitos. En 1932 era ya famosa y emprendió una gran gira por ciudades árabes, visitando Damasco, Bagdad,Jerusalén,Beirut, y Trípoli. Su fama también le permitió, en 1948, conocer a Gamal Abdel Nasser, el oficial conspirador y futuro presidente de Egipto. Ambos se profesarían en lo sucesivo mutua admiración.

Umm Kalzum 1960.

Paralelamente a su carrera de cantante impulsó su carrera como actriz, pero la abandonó rápidamente, por preferir el contacto personal y emocional con los espectadores.

En los años 40 Umm Kalzum tuvo un contrapunto en la cantante Asmahan, también actriz. Ambas eran igual de famosas pero totalmente opuestas: la bella Asmahan era una aristócrata de origen Sirio, de religión drusa, de vida disipada y cercana a los círculos palaciegos. Umm Kalzum, por el contrario, era egipcia por los cuatro costados, de origen humilde, musulmana y virtuosa, que ponía voz a un amor profundo y desgarrado. Además, era simpatizante de Nasser y de los Oficiales Libres. La rivalidad terminó con la muerte de Asmahan en extrañas circunstancias al acabar la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

En 1953, Umm Kalzum se casó con un hombre al que ella respetaba y admiraba, su médico Hasan al-Hafnawi. Su popularidad fue en aumento. Sus comentaristas occidentales suelen recordar un apoteósico concierto en 1967 en el Olympia de París, ante centenares de emigrantes árabes llegados de toda Europa.

Umm Kalzum es el exponente más famoso de la llamada canción árabe. Se la conocía como la Señora del Canto Árabe y también como el Astro de Oriente. Su figura era familiar: grande, con un imponente peinado y un vestido bordado hasta los pies, acompañada por su orquesta. Cantaba apretando un pañuelo de seda en su mano izquierda, donde, según la leyenda, escondía una bola de hachís que iba penetrando en su piel y le permitía ejecutar sus interminables canciones y mantener el torrente de voz. Es poco probable que fuera así, aunque sí es cierto que sus canciones, de sólida raigambre árabe, duraban tanto que a menudo debía grabar versiones más reducidas para que cupieran en los discos de vinilo, a razón de una canción por disco. En sus actuaciones semanales en público, radiadas en directo por la poderosa cadena Sawt al-Qahira (La Voz de El Cairo) y escuchadas en todo el Mundo Árabe, realizaba variaciones e improvisaciones.

Le fue diagnosticado un caso severo de nefritis a finales de los años 1960. En 1972, tras dar su último concierto en el Palacio del Nilo, los exámenes médicos indicaron que su enfermedad era incurable. Se trasladó a los Estados Unidos, donde se benefició durante algún tiempo de la avanzada tecnología médica, pero en 1975, de regreso en su país, tuvo una grave crisis y fue hospitalizada. Egipto entero estuvo pendiente de su evolución, y en su aldea natal la población entera recitó El Corán durante todo el día. Umm Kalzum murió en el hospital de El Cairo el 3 de febrero. Su muerte provocó suicidios y expresiones de histeria colectiva. A su funeral asistieron más de 4 millones de dolientes -uno de los más grandes de la historia- y se desencadenó en un tumulto cuando la multitud tomó el control de su ataúd y lo llevaron a una mezquita que según decían era su favorita, más tarde lo liberaron para el entierro. Fue enterrada en loor de multitudes y con honores de jefe de Estado en la célebre Ciudad de los Muertos.

Durante muchos años, la voz del Astro de Oriente acompañó a los árabes en la gran ilusión colectiva del renacimiento del Mundo Árabe tras la etapa colonial: el auge del panarabismo, la revolución egipcia, la nacionalización del canal de Suez, la unidad árabe, las reformas sociales, la lucha contra Israel. Su desaparición, poco después del la muerte de Nasser, marcó definitivamente el fin de una época.

Discographie choisie :

* Ya Karawan, 1926

* Othkorene (« Souviens-toi de moi »), 1939

* Raq il Habib, 1941

* Kull al-ahabbah, 1941

* Ghulubt asalih, 1946

* Yali Kan Yashqiq Anini, 1949

* Rubaiyat Al-Khayyam ("Quatrains d'Omar Khayyám"), 1950 - en maqam rast

* Ya Zalemny, 1954

* Dhikrayatun (Qessat Hobbi), 1955

* Dalili Ehtar, 1955 - en maqam kurd

* Gharib' Ala Bab erraja, 1955

* 'Awwidt 'ayni, 1958 - en maqam kurd

* Arouh li Min, 1958 - en maqam rast

* Hagartek ou Hajartak (« Je t'ai abandonné »), EMI, 1959

* Hobb Eih (« Quel amour »), 1960 - en maqam bayyati

* Howwa Sahih El-Hawa Ghallab, 1960

* Lessa Faker, 1960 - en maqam ajam

* Ansak Ya Salam, 1961 - en maqam rast

* Hayart Albi Ma'ak (« Tu as troublé mon cœur »), 1961 - en maqam nahwand

* Hasibak lil-zaman, 1962

* Zalamna El Hob (« Nous avons péché contre l'amour »), 1962

* Touf we Chouf, 1963

* Betfaker fi Meen (« À qui penses-tu ? »), 1963 - en maqam bayati

* Sirat el Houb, 1964 - en maqam sikah

* Enta Omri (« Tu es ma vie »), 1964 - en maqam kurd

* Araka asiya al-dam, 1964

* Lel Sabr Hedod (« La patience a ses limites »), 1964 - en maqam sikah

* Ental Hobb (« Tu es l'amour »), 1965 - en maqam nahwand

* Baeed Anak (« Loin de toi »), 1965 - en maqam bayyati

* Amal Hayati (« Espoir de ma vie »), 1965

* Fakarouni, 1966 - en maqam rast

* Al Atlal (« Les Ruines »), 1966 - en maqam huzam

* Hadeeth el Rouh, 1967 - en maqam kurd

* Fit al-ma' ad (« Il est trop tard »), 1967 - en maqam sikah

* Hathehe Laylati (« Ceci est ma nuit »), 1968 - en maqam bayyati

* Alif Leila wa Leila (« Les Mille et Une Nuits »), 1969 - en maqam nahawand

* Aqbal al-layl, 1969

* Wi-darit il-ayyam (« Et les jours passèrent »), 1970 - en maqam nahwand

* Es'al Rouhak (« Demande à ton âme »), 1970 - en maqam hugaz kar

* Aghadan alqak, 1971 - en maqam ajam

* El Hobb Kolloh (« Tout l'amour »), 1971 - en maqam rast

* Ya Msaharny (« Tu me tiens éveillée la nuit »), 1972

* Men Agl Aynayk, 1972

* Rihab al-huda (al-Thulathiyah al-Muqaddisah), 1972

* Hakam 'alayna al-haw'a, 1973

* Leilet Hobb (« Nuit d'amour »), 1973

Filmographie :

* 1936 : Wedad d'Ahmed Badrakhan et Fritz Kramp

* 1937 : Nashid al-Amal (« Le Chant de l'espoir »)

* 1940 : Dananir d'Ahmed Badrakhan

* 1942 : Aydah d'Ahmed Badrakhan

* 1945 : Salamah de Togo Mizrahi

* 1947 : Fatmah d'Ahmed Badrakhan

SOURCE : WIKIPEDIA

Taleal Bedru Aleyna

Amal Hayaty

Lelat Hob

Alf Lila wa Lila

Aadeet hayati

Enta Omri

Baed Annak