The Late Monumental Years

The defeat of June 1967 remade Umm Kulthum, then nearing seventy, as a fundraiser for the nation. She launched a campaign of concerts for the Egyptian war effort, touring Arab capitals and singing, in November 1967, at the Olympia in Paris — her only concerts outside the Arab world — and donating the proceeds, ultimately raising millions of pounds for the treasury. Artistically these were the monumental years: with Baligh Hamdi came "Alf Leila wa Leila" (1969), an hours-long celebration of love and night whose orchestral prelude is among the most recognizable in Arabic music; with Mohammed Abdel Wahab came "Aghadan Alqak" (1971) and "Leilet Hobb" (1973), among her final premieres. Failing health — kidney disease had shadowed her for years — finally forced her from the stage; she gave her last full concert in December 1972. When she died on 3 February 1975, Cairo produced one of the largest funerals in Egypt's history: millions of mourners filled the streets, carrying her coffin for hours in a procession the state could neither lead nor control. The Arab world still calls her simply al-Sitt — the Lady.