Most listeners remember Riyad al-Sunbati as the composer behind some of Umm Kulthum’s greatest songs. But many don't know about his incredible…
Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
Some scholars of Turkish music argue that taqāsīm, understood in its early sense as unmeasured vocal and instrumental improvisation, emerged at the…
In a musical landscape largely governed by two tendencies—an openness to fusion and collaboration or a retreat into tradition and conservatism…
In the opening chapter of The Unknown Past: Leila Mourad, Egypt’s Jewish Muslim Star, its author Hanan Hammad highlights the pains to which screen…
A new book sheds light on the importance of the art of Koranic recitation in Egypt, showing how the art form grew, excelled, and then declined over…
In the early 1920s, Umm Kulthum left her rural Egyptian village for Cairo, where she began performing concerts. Back home, she had built a network of…
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Trump's midterm dilemma
