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Umm Kulthum
Egypt’s most celebrated singer
c. 1904 – 1975
Her birth year is uncertain; sources give dates between 1898 and 1904.
Biography
Born in a Delta village, she began singing as a child with her father. She moved to Cairo in the 1920s, and her monthly radio concerts became events that gathered listeners across the Arab world.
Key facts
Certainty: Established
Egyptian radio began broadcasting Umm Kulthum’s concerts in the 1930s, carrying her voice across the Arab world.
- Virginia Danielson (1997) “The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song, and Egyptian Society in the Twentieth Century” University of Chicago Press