Today, December 31, coincides with the birth anniversary of the late icon of music in the Arab world, Kawkab al-Sharq, “Umm Kulthum”, who was born in 1898. She is considered one of the most prominent stars and artists of the twentieth century AD, as she began her artistic career in childhood, became famous in Egypt and throughout the Arab world, and still has many lovers and lovers until today despite her departure, on February 3, 1975 at the age of 76..
Birth of the Poet of the Ruins “Ibrahim Naji”
Today, December 31, coincides with the birthday of the poet of the ruins, “Ibrahim Naji”, who was born in 1898. He began his poetic life around 1926 when he began translating some foreign poems. He was called the Poet of the Ruins, and he died on March 27, 1953, at the age of 54.
The death of the artist “Ihsan Al-Qalawi”
Today, December 31, marks the anniversary of the departure of the able artist, Ihsan Al-Qalawi, who passed away from our world in 2018 in America and was buried in Muslim cemeteries there, leaving many distinguished works in which she participated, whether on the level of theater, radio, television drama and cinema, and among her most famous plays Hanim’s play, and one of her most famous radio series is the role of Zanouba in the series Return of the Spirit directed by Hussein Kamal, and one of her television series (The Man with Five Faces)She is the daughter of the artist Abd al-Halim al-Qalawi and her brother, the artist Mahmoud al-Qalawi, and her last work was on the night of the fall of Baghdad. Al-Qalawi was famous for presenting the roles of the mother in all its forms, from the strong and cruel to the oppressed, who suffers from living conditions with her children, and she died at the age of 76 after a struggle with illness.
The most prominent stations in the life of the planet “Umm Kulthum”
– Fatima bint Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Sayyid Al-Beltagy, better known as Umm Kulthum, was born in 1898 in the Dakahlia Governorate in the Nile Delta in Egypt.She was raised in a poor environment, for a father who was the imam of the village mosque, and a mother who cared for the upbringing of Umm Kulthum and her two brothers.
At a young age, she began roaming with her father, performing songs at weddings and reciting Qur’anic verses on religious occasions, and her father used to present her as a boy, since women were not allowed to read the Qur’an publicly on occasions.
– At the age of seven, her reputation began to spread, and she began to sing in the homes of the wealthy, who were so impressed by the strength of her voice and performance that she once received ten piastres as a tip, an amount that was then equal to half of her father’s salary. It was not long until Umm Kulthum began touring the Nile Delta to sing in various religious and family events
– At the age of sixteen, her talent was noticed by the famous singer Abu El-Ela Mohamed and the Oud player Zakaria Ahmed, who invited her to Cairo.
– In 1922 she moved to Cairo, and formed her first musical tacht in 1926. Her starting point was when she met the poet Ahmed Rami and then the composer Muhammad al-Qasabji.
– In 1928, she released the monologue “If I Forgive and Forget Al-Asiya,” which achieved her great fame, to participate with her voice in the movie “Children of Dawat” in 1932, then she joined the Egyptian Radio when it was established in 1934, and she is the first artist to enter the radio.
– She participated in several films, then devoted her time to singing only, and one of the most important songs is “You Are My Life, Al-Atlal, Hob Eih, One Thousand and One Nights, and Patience Has Limits.” She sang many patriotic songs
In the seventies, she suffered from kidney infection, and she traveled to London for treatment, until she passed away on February 3, 1975.
Awards and honors
She received many awards and honors. She won the Cedar Medal and the Order of Merit of the First Class in 1955 from Lebanon.
– Received the State Appreciation Award, and received the Jordanian Renaissance Medal
– She also received the Iraqi Order of Mesopotamia and the Syrian Order of Merit
– The Pakistani Star of Excellence Medal after singing “Hadith al-Ruh” by the Pakistani poet Muhammad Iqbal, and the Moroccan Competence Medal
A German bank issued a gold coin with a picture of Umm Kulthum printed on one of its sides