Oum Kalthoum (Arabic: أم كلثوم, other English spellings include: Umm Kulthu… Read Full Bio ↴Oum Kalthoum (Arabic: أم كلثوم, other English spellings include: Umm Kulthum, Om Kalthoum, Oum Kalsoum, Oum Kalthum, Omm Kolsoum, Umm Kolthoum, Um Kalthoom) (1904–1975) was an Egyptian singer and musician.

Oum Kalthoum was born in Tamay ez-Zahayra village in El Senbellawein, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. Her birth date is controversial, either 31 December 1898, 31 December 1904 or 4 May, 1904. She died 3 February, 1975.

At a young age, she showed exceptional singing talent. Her father, an Imam, taught her to recite the Qur'an, and she is said to have memorised the entire book. When she was twelve years old, her father disguised her as a young boy and entered her in a small performing troupe that he directed. At the age of sixteen she was noticed by Abol Ela Mohamed, a modestly famous singer, and by the famous oudist Zakariyya Ahmad, who invited her to Cairo. She waited until 1923 before accepting the invitation. She was invited on several occasions to the house of Amin Beh Al Mahdy, who taught her how to play the oud. She developed a very close relationship with Rawyeha Al Mahdy, daughter of Amin, and became her closest friend. Kalthoum even attended Rawheya's daughter's wedding, although she has always tried to avoid public appearances. Amin Al Mahdy introduced her to the cultural circles in Cairo.

At this point in her career, she was introduced to the famous poet Ahmad Rami, who wrote 137 songs for her. Rami also introduced her to French literature, which he greatly admired from his studies at the Sorbonne, Paris, and eventually became her chief mentor in Arabic literature and literary analysis. Furthermore, she was introduced to the renowned lute virtuoso and composer Mohamed El Qasabgi. El Qasabgi introduced Kalthoum to the Arabic Theatre Palace, where she would experience her first real public success. In 1932 her fame increased to the point where she embarked upon a large tour of the Middle East, touring such cities as Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut, and Tripoli, Lebanon.

By 1948 her fame had come to the attention of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who would later become the president of Egypt. At one point the Egyptian musicians guild of which she became a member (and eventually president) rejected her because she had sung for the then-deposed king, Farouk of Egypt. It was his favour that made the musicians' guild accept her back into the fold. In addition, Kalthoum had been a dedicated Egyptian patriot since the time of King Farouk.

Her songs deal mostly with the universal themes of love, longing and loss. A typical concert consisted of the performance of two or three songs over a period of three to six hours. In the late 1960s, due to her age, she began to shorten her performances to two songs over a period of two and a half to three hours. The duration of her songs in performance was not fixed, but varied based on the level of emotional interaction between the singer and her audience. A typical improvisatory technique of hers was to repeat a single phrase or sentence of a song's lyrics over and over, subtly altering the emotive emphasis and intensity each time to bring her audiences into a euphoric and ecstatic state. Thus, while the official recorded length of a song such as "Enta omri" (You Are My Life) is approximately sixty minutes, a live performance could extend to many hours, as the singer and her audience fed off each other's emotional energy. This intense, highly personalised creative relationship was undoubtedly one of the reasons for Kalthoum's tremendous success as an artist.

In 1967 Kalthoum was diagnosed with a severe case of nephritis. She gave her last concert at the Palace of the Nile in 1973. Tests at that time indicated that her illness was incurable. She moved to the United States, where she benefited for some time from the advanced medical technology, but in 1975, upon re-entering her home country, she required hospitalisation due to declining health. She died in a Cairo hospital on 3rd February 1975.

Her funeral was attended by over four million mourners – one of the largest gatherings in history – and descended into pandemonium when the crowd seized control of her coffin and carried it to a mosque that they considered her favourite, before later releasing the coffin for burial.

Min Elli A'Al
Oum Kalthoum Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

مين اللي قال إن القمر
يشبه لمحبوب الفؤاد
حسن القمر يوم والحبيب
حسنه دواما في إزدياد
إمتى أنول وصله وأقول
راح العذول مالوش أثر
إمتى أنول وصله وأقول
راح العذول مالوش أثر

الحب من طبعه
من طبعه الدلال
أما القمر طبعه
من طبعه السكون
والكون ينور بالقمر
أما الحبيب، الحبيب، الحبيب
نور العيون، نور العيون

يا ليل ليل ليل ليلي يا عيني
يا ليل ليل ليل ليلي يا عيني
يا ليل ليل ليل ليل يا ليل يا ليل يا ليل
يا ليل يا عيني يا ليلي ليلي ليلي ليل
ليل ليل ليلي يا عيني
يا ليل ليل ليل ليلي يا عيني
الحب من طبعه
طبعه الدلال
الحب من طبعه
طبعه الدلال
والكون ينور بالقمر
أما الحبيب، أما الحبيب
نور العيون، العيون، العيون، العيون
نور العيون

الحب من طبعه
طبعه الدلال
آه آه آه آه آه
آه آه آه آه آه
والكون ينور بالقمر
أما الحبيب، أما الحبيب
نور العيون، العيون، العيون، العيون
نور العيون
آه آه آه آه آه آه
إمتى أنول وصله وأقول
راح العذول مالوش أثر

إمتى أنول وصله وأقول
راح العذول مالوش أثر

Overall Meaning

The song "Min Elli A'Al" by Oum Kalthoum is a love song that compares the beauty of the moon to the beauty of the beloved in the poet's heart. The opening lines ask "who said the moon looks like the lover of the heart?" and go on to describe how the beauty of the moon waxes and wanes, while the beauty of the beloved only increases. The singer longs to express her love for her beloved, and her frustration with the delay in their union is evident in the repeated line "when will I reach him and say that the stubborn one has left no trace?"

The song continues with an exploration of the nature of love and the contrast between the moon and the beloved. The moon is associated with tranquility, while love is associated with playfulness and coquetry. The moon illuminates the night sky, while the beloved illuminates the eyes. The refrain "ya leyli ya eini" emphasizes the longing and passion of the singer, and the repetition of the lines about love and the moon reinforce the central themes of the song.

Ultimately, "Min Elli A'Al" is a powerful expression of passionate love and the desire for union with the beloved. Oum Kalthoum's emotional delivery and the skillful poetry create a vivid and moving portrayal of the joys and frustrations of love.

Line by Line Meaning

مين اللي قال إن القمر يشبه لمحبوب الفؤاد
Whoever said that the moon resembles the beloved of the heart?

حسن القمر يوم والحبيب حسنه دواما في إزدياد
The beauty of the moon is fleeting, but the beauty of the beloved grows ever greater.

إمتى أنول وصله وأقول راح العذول مالوش أثر
When will I reach him and say, 'The detractors are gone, leaving no trace behind'?

الحب من طبعه من طبعه الدلال
Love is inherently coquettish and charming.

أما القمر طبعه من طبعه السكون
Whereas the nature of the moon is one of stillness and tranquility.

والكون ينور بالقمر أما الحبيب، الحبيب، الحبيب نور العيون، نور العيون
The universe is illuminated by the moon, but the beloved, the beloved, the beloved is the light of my eyes.

يا ليل ليل ليل ليلي يا عيني يا ليلي ليلي ليلي ليل
Oh night, night, my eyes, oh my beloved night.

الحب من طبعه طبعه الدلال
Love is inherently coquettish and charming.

والكون ينور بالقمر أما الحبيب، أما الحبيب نور العيون، العيون، العيون، العيون
The universe is illuminated by the moon, but the beloved, the beloved is the light of my eyes, my eyes, my eyes, my eyes.

آه آه آه آه آه
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.

إمتى أنول وصله وأقول راح العذول مالوش أثر
When will I reach him and say, 'The detractors are gone, leaving no trace behind'?

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