'Star of the East' Umm Kulthum Returns to Light Up Cairo

Umm Kulthum's deep, resonant voice enthralled the Arab world for decades and inspired western singers like Bob Dylan and Robert Plant | AFP
Umm Kulthum's deep, resonant voice enthralled the Arab world for decades and inspired western singers like Bob Dylan and Robert Plant | AFP
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'Star of the East' Umm Kulthum Returns to Light Up Cairo

Umm Kulthum's deep, resonant voice enthralled the Arab world for decades and inspired western singers like Bob Dylan and Robert Plant | AFP
Umm Kulthum's deep, resonant voice enthralled the Arab world for decades and inspired western singers like Bob Dylan and Robert Plant | AFP

Revered Arab singer Umm Kulthum returned to light up the stage once more on Friday, almost five decades after her death, in the form of a hologram that delighted a packed-to-capacity crowd at Cairo's Opera House.

Affectionately known in Egypt as "El Sett" ("The Lady"), Kulthum's deep, resonant voice enthralled the Arab world for decades, inspired western singers like Bob Dylan and Robert Plant, and can still be heard in Egypt's streets, cafes, taxis and Nile sailboats.

At the majestic entrance of the Opera House in the Egyptian capital, a large golden plaque bearing her image greeted giddy visitors, along with a placard reading "Star of the East, Umm Kulthum" -- her most popular moniker.

As the curtains were raised, a halo of light appeared in the centre of the stage which transformed into a three-dimensional virtual composition of the singer, sending the audience of more than a thousand into rapturous applause.

In a nod to her packed concerts of decades ago, the hologram -- clad in a bright purple dress and clasping Umm Kulthum's signature handkerchief -- sang from one of her most famous songs, "You toyed with my heart".

"I came today because I have always dreamed of attending an Umm Kulthum concert," Aya Yassin, a professor of medicine at Ain Shams University, told AFP.

"My grandmother used to tell me about the famous Thursday concerts of hers which made me really interested in coming tonight."

Umm Kulthum was born at the end of the 19th century and her career flourished from the 1920s until her death in 1975, taking in an impressive repertoire of religious, patriotic, and sentimental songs and poetry.

Her concerts lasted for hours and her live radio broadcasts attracted huge audiences.

Friday's virtual performance comes amid fierce debate over contemporary Egyptian music.

Last month, the Egyptian musicians' union banned performances of popular electro street music known as mahraganat, which captures the wild, carefree spirit of Egyptian youth but is viewed by conservatives as overstepping moral boundaries.

"I am a retired soldier and I made a point of coming here because I miss art that has an ethical component," Mostafa, a 60-year-old attendee who only gave his first name, told AFP.

"I'm sick of what the new generation of singers are putting out these days and calling it art. It's nothing but trash," he added.

The performance in Cairo is not the first to feature a hologram of Umm Kulthum. Last year a virtual representation of the singer delighted adoring crowds in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.



Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
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Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Japan's agriculture minister said Friday the country would oppose any call by the European Union to add eels to an endangered species list that would limit trade in them.

Eel is eaten worldwide but is particularly popular in Japan, where it is called "unagi" and traditionally served grilled after being covered in a sticky-sweet sauce.

Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters that the country carefully manages stock levels of the Japanese eel in cooperation with neighboring China, Taiwan and South Korea.

"There is a sufficient population, and it faces no extinction risk due to international trade," AFP quoted him as saying.

Japanese media have reported that the EU could soon propose that all eel species be added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which limits trade of protected animals.

There are 19 species and subspecies of eel, many of them now threatened due to a range of factors including pollution and overfishing.

In 2014, the Japanese eel was listed as endangered, but not critically endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which cited factors including habitat loss, overfishing, pollution and migration barriers.

Protecting the animal is complicated by their complex life cycle, which unfolds over a vast area, and the many unknowns about how they reproduce.