That's what Charles de Gaulle called her. Under her father's instruction, she memorized the Qur'an before the age of twelve, when she disguised herself as a boy so she could perform with other musicians of her age in public. During her early career, the poet Ahmad Rami gave her the gift of words in the form of lyrics for 137 songs and countless conversations about French and Arabic literature and theory. She was known to repeat one line of lyrics over and over again at her concerts, each time emphasizing a different lyric or emotion until the crowd rose with shouts of euphoria. She could sing every Arabic scale in a wider range than anyone in the world. Ever. Her voice was so powerful that she had to stand at least a meter away from her microphone or else she would break it, her vocal chords able to produce thousands of vibrations per second. With passion she sang of love and loss. People all over the world--but especially throughout the Middle East--were mesmerized by her, from poets to presidents. In an area of the world where people could agree on so little, Umm Kulthum was one thing they agreed on unanimously. When she died, over four million people mourned at her funeral, Jews and Arabs alike, forming one of the largest public gatherings in history.September 6, 2008
"The Lady"
That's what Charles de Gaulle called her. Under her father's instruction, she memorized the Qur'an before the age of twelve, when she disguised herself as a boy so she could perform with other musicians of her age in public. During her early career, the poet Ahmad Rami gave her the gift of words in the form of lyrics for 137 songs and countless conversations about French and Arabic literature and theory. She was known to repeat one line of lyrics over and over again at her concerts, each time emphasizing a different lyric or emotion until the crowd rose with shouts of euphoria. She could sing every Arabic scale in a wider range than anyone in the world. Ever. Her voice was so powerful that she had to stand at least a meter away from her microphone or else she would break it, her vocal chords able to produce thousands of vibrations per second. With passion she sang of love and loss. People all over the world--but especially throughout the Middle East--were mesmerized by her, from poets to presidents. In an area of the world where people could agree on so little, Umm Kulthum was one thing they agreed on unanimously. When she died, over four million people mourned at her funeral, Jews and Arabs alike, forming one of the largest public gatherings in history.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
whoa! that is awesome!
Post a Comment