Umm Kulthoum

By George Bahgory

This month we celebrate the centenary of Umm Kulthoum's birth, though even this fact is shrouded in some controversy. What is sure, as far as I am concerned, is that she was the diva to end all divas. I am still entirely under her spell: her dazzling glamour, her incredible poise, and the voice that came straight from heaven, and was so powerful she always had to stand a few steps away from the microphone. Here I have drawn her decked out in her jewels, and clasping the scarf she always held. One wave of that scarf was enough to drive her millions of fans to distraction.