Umm Kulthumm on the list of the 200 greatest singers of all time

Rolling Stone magazine recently honored Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, a world-renowned Arab music legend who is particularly revered in the Middle East and North Africa.

In a list of the 200 greatest singers of all time published by the magazine’s American editors, the singer came in at number 61, just between George Michael, 62nd, and Kate Bush, 60th. Other legends in the top 10 include Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin, who came first.

 

RANKING THE 200 GREATEST SINGERS OF ALL TIME 🎤https://t.co/IYXKLlgMds

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 1, 2023

A life of music

The Arab superstar was born on 4 May 1904 in a village in Egypt. Having identified a musical talent and an undeniable aptitude for singing, her father used to take her with him when he performed traditional religious songs at weddings and parties. As her popularity grew, Umm Kulthum ventured into other musical genres and eventually became known for her moving love songs.

The star enchanted fans from the Persian Gulf to Morocco with her melancholic voice and powerful lyrics. Her influence in the region was so great that millions of people flocked to her funeral in Cairo when she died in 1975.

Famous in East and West

Although Oum Kalthoum is considered in Egypt and the Middle East to be the greatest singer and musician, nicknamed the Star of the East, the Mother of Peoples, or the Fourth Pyramid, her area of influence does not stop at the Mediterranean. She was particularly popular in France, culminating in two concerts at the Olympia (her only ones in the West) for which the singer donated her – exorbitant – fees to Egypt.

 

In its rant, the magazine describes Umm Kulthum as having “no real equivalent among Western singers”, who “could blur genres in her lower register, convey a breathtaking emotional range in complex songs that, through wildly ornate themes and variations, could easily last an hour, as she worked the crowds like a fiery preacher.”