Um Kalthoum Museum

Description:

• This small museum is dedicated to the singer Um Kalthoum, who, more than 3 decades after her death, remains a cultural icon and symbol of Egyptian nationalism. Born in 1904, she was the daughter of an imam (a position at a mosque roughly equivalent to a parish priest) in a small rural village in the Delta. During the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, she was known throughout the Arab world and her 5- to 6-hour concerts, broadcast on the first Thursday of the month, were claimed to clear the streets of Cairo as people made their way home and to cafes to listen. She died in 1975, but you will still hear her music being played around Cairo. Her death prompted a massive reaction, and it is claimed that millions attended her funeral. You'll recognize her on posters throughout Egypt as a substantial lady wearing sunglasses (she had an eye problem) and holding a white handkerchief. The museum plays recordings of her works, and reverentially displays ephemera such as her diamond-studded sunglasses and her diplomatic passport.

• © Frommer's 2013