****The best Arabic singer of all times**** by sarrahh
OM KOTHOUM WAS BORN IN A SMALL RURAL VILLAGE TO A POOR FAMILY.HER BACKGROUND TYPIFIED THAT OF THE MASHAYIKH AND DIDNT DIFFER SUBSTANTIALLY FROM THAT OF MANY OF HER CONTEMPORARIES.The "Golden Age" of Umm Kulthum
Om Kolthoum's musical directions in the 1940s and early 1950s and her mature performing style caused this period to be popularly called the "golden age" of Om Kolthoum. In keeping with changing popular taste as well as her own artistic inclinations, in the early 1940s she requested songs from composer Zakariya Ahmad and colloquial poet Bayram al-Tunisi cast in styes considered to be indigenously Egyptian. This represented a dramatic departure from the modernist romantic songs of the 1930s. The result was a populist repertory that had lasting appeal for the Egyptian audience. Later in the decade, Om Kolthoum engaged the young composer Riyad al-Sunbati to set a number of qasa'id by Ahmad Shawqi. The result was stylistically different from Zakariya and Bayram's songs but, as neo-classical works based on historically Arab poetic and musical practices, they were also viewed as indigenously Arab and were very well-received. These songs established al-Sunbati as the foremost composer of qasa'id of his generation and returned Om Kolthoum to her genre of choice.