Program notes
A fascinating portrait of the "Star of the East," the Egyptian singer Oum Kalsoum.
Oum Kalsoum's artistic career is an integral part of contemporay Egypt history. In fifty years of activity, technical means and political regimes followed one another, but Oum Kalsoum never ceased to reign over the musical scene. Her life was one of a novel heroine. A poor country girl climbing the social ladders up to the status of an internationally acclaimed artist. Her success was not only due to her voice, but also to her pride and strengh of character. She spoke to princes as she would have spoken to the man on the street. Oum Kalsoum, who earned the nickname of "the fourth pyramide," was more than a singer, she was a myth.