The Lady and the Sheikh/الست والشيخ

The lady, Umm Kulthum (1898-1975), whose voice became not only a national icon but rather a memory for peoples spread out from the Ocean to the Gulf, sang for decades and decades captivating her listeners with a musical beauty unmatched. The Sheikh, Zakariya Ahmed (1896-1961), wrote her pieces that will remain forever beacons for one of the most significant collaborations between a singer and a composer in the history of the Arabic song. He wrote more than 1000 pieces that ranged from theatre works to short songs to long pieces. Of those, the most iconic were the 60 songs he composed for the Lady from 1931 to 1960, and her voice immortalized him and his music for posterity.

On the 11th of this December, the month of the Lady’s birth, we will celebrate this iconic duo. Through an eclectic selection of their works, from Elward Gameel (Roses are beautiful) and Ghanili Shway (Gently, sing for me) to Elhawa Ghallab (love truly conquers), we will be singing to their eternal souls, dancing to the happiness with which they endowed our lives.