'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.



Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
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Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)

The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.

About an hour before Iranian state TV first reported loud explosions in Tehran, pizza orders around the Pentagon went through the roof, according to a viral X account claiming to offer "hot intel" on "late-night activity spikes" at the US military headquarters.

"As of 6:59 pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity," the account "Pentagon Pizza Report" posted on Thursday.

While far from scientific, the Pentagon pizza theory "is not something the internet just made up," The Takeout, an online site covering restaurants and food trends, noted earlier this year.

Pentagon-adjacent pizza joints also got much busier than usual during Israel's 2024 missile strike on Iran, it said, as there are "a multitude of fast-food restaurants in the Pentagon complex, but no pizza places."

Pizza deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled right before the US invasion of Panama in December 1989 and surged again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal he was fully aware in advance of the bombing campaign, which Israel says is needed to end Iran's nuclear program. "We know what's going on."

For the rest of Americans, pepperoni pie activity was not the only way to tell something was about to happen.

Washington had already announced it was moving some diplomats and their families out of the Middle East on Wednesday.

And close to an hour before Israel unleashed its firepower on Iran, the US ambassador in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, sent out a rather revealing X post: "At our embassy in Jerusalem and closely monitoring the situation. We will remain here all night. 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!'"