Umm Kulthum
Umm Kulthum أم كلثوم | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Fatima Ibrahim as-Sayed El-Beltagi فاطمه إبراهيم السيد البلتاجى |
| Born | c. 4 May 1904 Tamay Ez-Zahayra, El Senbellawein, El Dakahlia, Khedivate of Egypt |
| Died | 3 February 1975 (aged 70) Cairo, Egypt |
| Genres | Egyptian music, classical |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1923–1973 |
| Labels | Odeon His Master's Voice Cairophon Sono Cairo Mazzika EMI Classics EAC Records |
Umm Kulthum (Arabic: أم كلثوم; c. 4 May 1904 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title Kawkab el-Sharq (Arabic: كوكب الشرق, lit. 'Star of the Orient'). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kulthum is a national icon in her native Egypt; she has been dubbed "The Voice of Egypt" and "Egypt's Fourth Pyramid". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Umm Kulthum at number 61 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Her funeral in 1975 drew a crowd of over 4 million people, the largest human gathering in Egypt's history, even surpassing that of president Gamal Abdel Nasser.