The Golden Era of Arab song turned singers into actors, celebrities and above all legendary cultural icons. Although male celebrities were also important and well-loved, I argue that the female icon has always been more important as a cultural icon primarily due to her gendered nationalist and pan-Arabist status (especially in the period of the mid-twentieth century), which lasts to this day. While Umm Kulthum and Fairouz are the overarching cultural super icons, each decade since the 1920s has had its shining star, typically in parallel with Umm Kulthum. The 1910s and 20s saw Munira Mahdiya and Fathiyya Ahmad, the 1930s and 40s had Layla Murad and Asmahan. Whereas the 1950s and 60s saw the debut of Fairouz and Sabah, the 1970s and 80s were the prime for Warda Al-Jaza’iria and the end of the critically agreed upon Golden Era of Arabic song. The end of the Golden Era is often associated with the discrediting of Nasser-style Arab nationalism, after the defeat of the Egyptian army in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and subsequently with the passing of the two greatest symbols of high culture, Um Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez.
Umm Kulthum has left the largest cultural impression on subsequent generations of Arab youth. It was in parallel to the struggle for independence and the creation of a national Arab identity that her career developed to such heights. She publicly associated herself with the Arab nationalist regime of Gamal Abdel-Nasser after the 1952 revolution. She had everything to offer Nasser’s nationalism as a cultural symbol. Nasser saw that in order to reinforce his legitimacy and fire up the masses for his development projects, he could do no better than have Um Kulthum on his side. She genuinely believed in him, and after the defeat of 1967 she would rally the Arabs and give concerts for four years to raise money for Nasser’s attempts to rebuild Egypt's destroyed military.
Her legendary star status is used in contemporary musical tropes. A huge hit from the summer of 2011 by Omani singer Saleh Al-Zadjali, ‘Ayaar (Player), mentions that “after you (my pearl) I started to listen to Um Kulthum (min baa‘d ya danah sert asma‘ Umm Kulthum).”This clip has reached about 20 million views since it was posted on YouTube. Iraqi pop sensation, Mohammed Salim also recorded a single in the namesake of the Diva, saying “Sudug low galat Um Kulthum, ahl-al hob mesakeen: It is true what Um Kulthum said, people in love are the needy ones.”
A common saying in the Arab world advises people to “wake up with Fairouz and end your night with Um Kulthum.” This saying has become such a part of popular culture that contemporary singers refer to it in their songs. Majid Al-Mohandis, the Iraqi Pan-Gulf singer mentions this cultural phenomena in the lyrics of this Pan-Arab song in the “White Dialect” (lahja al-bayda) “Sabah Al-Khair”: “Ya Omri, Sabah al-Nour, Yalla AsHa Ghenit Fairouz: My life (sweetie), Good Morning, come on wake up, Fairouz already sang.” Associations between Fairouz, the morning, a cup of Turkish coffee, and (possibly) a cigarette have been ingrained into the Arab psyche over the generations as a set of inseparable factors. Traditionally no radio station would begin its morning broadcast without playing something from Fairouz. Her soothing and strong voice has become inseparable with the morning and this tradition that began with the radio continues today on social media as well. Even Instagram accounts like insta6arab will begin their morning posts with a clip or recording from the legendary diva.
Like Um Kulthum, Fairouz would also sing in al-‘ammiya, or (Lebanese) dialect, and Classical Arabic, predominately in the poems recounting Arab greatness. Despite being a Lebanese cultural icon, she established herself as a pan-Arab singer and cultural icon that while still symbolizing Lebanon, reached and represented all the Arabs. Fairouz is still loved and can be heard all over the world to the present day. She has been able to successfully cross from the classical era to today and from folklore to contemporary genres. Hammond writes that “No Arab singer has managed to merge the traditional and the modern as Fairouz has.” Fairouz is the epitome of dignified Arab nationalism due to her patriotic songs. Her image and “mythical” status in Arab culture have placed her on par with Umm Kulthum and given her nicknames like “Ambassador to the Stars,” “Neighbor to the Moon” and “the Jewel of Lebanon.” She is the only one of the original Divas still living.
“Along with Lebanon’s Fairouz and Egypt’s late Um Kulthum, Warda was one of the legendary singers of the Arab world” was the subheading of Al Jazeera’s article on the passing of the legendary singer Warda Al-Jaza’iria in January 2012. No academic work has since been done on the importance of Warda, leaving a gap in the field on her relevant status in the Arab world. For the purposes of this thesis, her importance is a key link between the turath and tarab of Um Kulthum and the work of contemporary artists like Assala (who will both be discussed at length below), to whom Warda had symbolically passed the torch onto before passing away.
Despite her Algerian father, Lebanese mother, Parisian upbringing, and constantly changing address between major Arab cultural capitals like Beirut and Cairo, Warda stated, “I was the first artist from the Arab Maghreb to move to Egypt.” She had no time for borders between the Arab Mashreq and Maghreb, nor between East and West. For her, Lebanon is “in my blood,” Egypt is “my beloved,” and Paris “belongs to my childhood.” But the great passion she inherited from her father is Algeria. Despite her association with Algeria, Warda is arguably the only one of the three grand Arab divas who had less of a symbolic quality as an artistic ambassador from any single nation-state. Umm Kulthum was Egyptian and sang in the Egyptian dialect. Fairouz was Lebanese and sang in the Lebanese dialect. Warda, while having this mixed background, claimed her Algerian roots above all others but predominantly sang and spoken in Egyptian.
Warda’s melodic voice provided a strong expression of the aspirations of Arab nationalism and democracy, in her own time and today. Her voice and songs are considered less intimidating or intense then Umm Kulthum. Warda was able to maintain her cultural relevance and cultural symbolism over the many decades of her career. She made strategic musical choices by staying true to her tarab roots while still appealing to youth audiences. Some of her most successful hits were softer dance hits “Batwanes Beek" and “Haramt Ahebak”, in the 1990’s. When a Saudi youth was asked on his favorite Golden Era artist he chose Warda, “because her songs were between a fast beat yet romantic and gave you feelings of warmth, love and balance.”
The legacies of singers, like Warda, Umm Kulthum, and Fairouz, with their romantic, honorable and yet patriotic lyrics, continues to inspire and unite the Arab people in a way many politicians tried—and failed—to do. They continue to do so even in death (excluding Fairouz). Case in point: the massive outpouring of grief caused by the death of Warda, the Algerian Rose, at the age of 72 on May 17, 2012 in Cairo. During times of political uncertainty it is the voices of these Divas that are still constantly heard. Throughout the Arab Spring, Warda’s voice was constantly heard, not only in Cairo's Tahrir Square, but throughout a resurgent Arab world. This trend extends with the music (and imagery) of all three Divas.
Themed cafes with photos and memorabilia of the Golden Era divas are everywhere. In Kuwait alone, the famed Avenues mall possesses a “Villa Fairouz” restaurant and “al-Sitt" Cafe in honor of Um Kulthum, with another “Villa Fairouz” in AlShaab AlBahri and a separate chain, “Fayrouzeyat” has just sprung up in Al Shaheed Park. In the United Arab Emirates, “Nar,” a Lebanese restaurant with two locations in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi, decorate with the Golden Era stars of music and film, including Um Kulthum, Fairouz, Asmahan, Omar Sherif and Abdel-Halim Hafez. An infinite number of trinkets like cups, mugs, pillow cases, trays, photo blocks and figurines of these stars has become available all over the Arab world celebrating their status as pop culture icons.
It is apparent that while opinions vary, certain points are more concrete. While being the symbol of the nation is more clear-cut regarding the Golden-Age divas like Um Kulthum and Fairouz, as made clear by Danielson and Stone, the water is made murky when examining Warda and contemporary stars. While there is no doubt of an artist’s country of origin on the pan-Arab stage, it is less likely for her to symbolize the nation as such Divas had in the twentieth century.
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