OUM KATLHUM – OUM KALTHUM – UMM KULTHUM, 1st part
OUM KALTHUM AND MOHAMED ABD EL WAHAB
A dramatic high point in the production of new love song was collaboration with Mohamed Abd-el Wahab. He began his career in musical theater in 1917 and became highly regarded as singer and composer. They became aquainted during 1920´s. Abd el Wahab starred in a number of successful films during the 1930´s and 1940´s, for which he also wrote music. He was viewed as prestigious and innovative composer. His speciality was to combine wide variety of styles, mixture between Arab and Western music.
The two artists different artistic objectives discouraged collaboration. Abd el Wahab was interested in modern music, experimenting with other styles and influenced by West, while Oum Klathum wanted to work with old arab music roots. From time to time the two were in direct competition. Both ran for president of Musicians Union in 1940´s and early 1950´s.
It is believed that egyptian president Abd el Nasir was very important in the connection of the two artist, that he alone cherished so much. In 1960 both of them received Order of Merit by Egyptian governement. Slowly Abd el Naser and other mutual friends of the artists persusaded both of them to colaborate together. Agreement was formaly reached when Oum Kalthum and Abd el Wahab were performing together for a concert in honor of Egyptian National Day.
Their first success was Enta omri (You are my life), premiered in 1964. The song quickly became one of her most popular and famous songs. Nine more songs followed. All of the songs they did together were acompanied by huge press coverage. Not only in trade publication and fan magazines but also in the daily newspaper.
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OUM KALTHUM – UMM KULTHUM, 1.del
KONCERTI
Njeni mesečni koncerti v Kairu so se zgodili vsak prvi četrtek v mesecu. Oum Katlhum je prišla vsaj uro pred koncertom in izza zavese gledala publiko, ki se je nabirala v dvorani. Menda se je glede na to, kakšna čustva je v njej vzbudila publika, ki jo je gledala izza zavese odločila, kaj bo pela.
Datumi premier novih pesmi so bili točno določeni. V časopisih so dobile vso zahtevano pozornost (Ime pesnika, skladatelja, podrobnosti o tem, kako so jo uglasbili). Besedilo pesmi pa se je ponavadi pojavilo v časopisu šele na dan premiere ali pa celo dan kasneje.
Obleke, ki jih je nosila na koncertih so bile vedno elegantne; ženska galabeja okrašena z dragulji. Ohranjala je princip konzervativne tradicionalne obleke, čeprav je izbirala drage materiale: dragulje in krzno. Bila je elegantna »hčerka podeželja«. Rada je imela svojo publiko, ki jo je oboževala. Imela je zveste gledalce v prvih vrstah. Legenda pravi, da je nek gospod iz Aleksandrije na vsakem njenem koncertu zakupil dva sedeža, enega zase in enega za svoj plašč in klobuk. Ko ga nekoč ni bilo na koncertu, se je ustrašila zanj in poslala ponj. Gospod je ravno žaloval, saj mu je umrl oče, a je kasneje vseeno prišel na koncert. Vsak koncert se je začel z glasbenim uvodom, potem je Oum Kalthoum ustala, v roki je imela svileno ruto in pela. Koncert se je vedno začel s pesmijo, ki jo že pozajo, šele nato je predstavila novo pesem. Redko je pela pesmi, ki bi bile starejše od 10 let.
Njen koncert se je ponavadi začel s tremi skladbami, vsaka je bila dolga približno 50 minut, med vsako pa je bilo približno 50 minut premora. Začeli so se okrog 21. ure in trajali do zgodnjih jutranjih ur. To je povezano s staro arabsko idejo, imenovano tarab – užitek poslušanja čudovitega glasu pevca oz. pevke, ki lahko očara svoje občinstvo vse do zore. Občudovanja vredna moč glasu, ki zdrži do jutra. Ta posebna oblika njenih koncertov, ki so trajali do tretje ure zjutraj, je bila pomemben faktor, povezan z arabsko tradicijo.
V Parizu, kjer je imela svoj koncert leta 1967, se je držala povsem istega urnika in s tem presenetila tako poslušalce kot oblast.
V šestdesetih letih dvajsetega stoletja, so se mladi uprli temu, da so njeni koncerti tako dolgi, saj nova doba ne dovoljuje ljudem več toliko časa za večurno uživanje v njenih pesmih.
Oum Kalthum je skrajšala repertoar na dve pesmi, ker pa so gledalci želeli še ponovitev, je trajalo enako kot prej.
Leta 1972 je predstavila pesem Inta Omri, ki je trajala 2 uri, leto kasneje pa Laylat hubb, ki je bila še daljša.
Njene koncerte so poslušali po vsem Egiptu in po vseh arabskih deželah.
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OUM KATLHUM AND HER CHILDHOOD
She was born in a small Egyptian village called Tammay al Zaharya, by the Nile Delta. The date of her birth is still a matter of discussion, but her English language biographer, Virginia Danielson, says her date of birth was the 4th of May 1904.
Her father was an imam at the local mosque, her mother was a housekeeper. She was raised in a very religious family where she learned suras from the Koran, ever since she was a child. Her father noticed that she was talented and enrolled her into the school of Koran at the age of 5. Her father was also a sheikh, a singer of religious songs at local mulids and festivals. While practicing those songs at home, he discovered that his daughter not only remembered the lyrics, but had a strong voice, too. She learned from her father by repeating after him, without understanding the words. Her father started teaching her to sing and soon she began performing with him. The audience was always amazed to hear this young girl singing with such a strong voice. They got more and more work, as people heard of the wonder child. Her father was concerned for her reputation, as she was a woman, so he dressed her up as a boy, whenever they went to perform. Also, there were family members and relatives who accompanied her to every performance she had.
Between 1910 and 1920, her father began to take on the role of her manager and the family’s economic situation soon improved.
Between 1920 and 1922, she began to perform in Cairo, and from 1922 onwards, she become a real star.
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