Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum died 50 years ago this week. She remains arguably the most influential Arab singer in and outside the Arab world. In Paris, there were three days of concerts to pay homage.

In my recent salon class on global divas, I featured a song called “Ala Baladi Elmahboub” which translates as “to my beloved country” from a 1936 Egyptian classic film called Widad. Umm Kulthum (her ...

Half a century after her death, Umm Kulthum's singular voice still echoes through busy streets in Egypt, across time-worn cafes in Iraq, and in millions of homes from Morocco to Oman. "As long as ...