I did not really understand Umm Kulthum's mystique. That's because I grew up in the U.S. listening to Bob Dylan records with my dad, who came here from Syria as a young graduate student. For his part, ...

One of the most indomitable singing voices of the Arab world has come back to life Umm Kulthum. While you’re almost assuredly aware of the name, for the uninitiated she was a singer and performer that ...

"All Arabs agree," reads The Rough Guide to World Music. "Umm Kulthum is indisputably the Arab world's greatest singer." The name Umm Kulthum may not strike a chord to Western ears, but she was a ...

“Imagine a singer with the virtuosity of Joan Sutherland or Ella Fitzgerald, the public persona of Eleanor Roosevelt, and the audience of Elvis, and you have Umm Kulthum, the most accomplished singer ...

Hands down, Umm Kulthum – nicknamed the fourth pyramid, the Lady, the star of the east – is the most legendary Arab singer. At least once a week, my father will lay back on a couch, put on an Umm ...

It took Egyptian actor Mona Zaki more than a year's preparation to take on the hardest role of her career -- the iconic ...

Half a century after her death, Umm Kulthum's singular voice still echoes through busy streets in Egypt, across time-worn cafes in Iraq, and in millions of homes from Morocco to Oman. "As long as ...

These two excerpts from the documentary film, "Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt," show the power and nuance of the great singer's voice. Umm Kulthum sings a love song composed by one of her rivals.