Legendary Arab divas of film and music immortalised in Paris

Immersive exhibition pays tribute to female icons of the Middle East

Umm Kulthum onstage at the Olympia in Paris, 1967. IMA Known as the diva of the Middle East, Umm Kulthum is the most recognisable and revered musical talent in the Arab world. In 1934, she sang for the inaugural broadcast of Radio Cairo and from then performed on every first Thursday of the month for 40 years. Known for her vocal range, unique style and stamina, her songs were written by the greatest poets and composers of the era. Compositions could last as long as 90 minutes. With a career that spanned five decades, Umm Kulthum sold more than 80 million records around the world, making her one of the best-selling Middle Eastern singers. Considered an icon in her native Egypt, she has been hailed as the country’s "fourth pyramid".

A studio portrait of Warda Al-Jazairia in Algiers from about 1970. Cherif Ben Youcef/Collection Reyad Kesri. The 'Algerian Rose', who was more commonly known by her first name, Warda Al-Jazairia was an Algerian-Lebanese singer who began her career in her native Paris in the 1950s at the Tam-Tam, a cabaret owned by her father. After the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1956, her family left Paris for Beirut, where she continued to sing before taking a 10-year break after she married in 1961. Following her divorce in the early 1970s, Warda resumed singing and moved to Egypt, where she worked with some of the country’s greatest composers and built a fan base across the Middle East.

The poster for the 1948 film Ambre directed by Anwar Wagdi, and starring Leila Mourad. Abboudi Bou Jawde. Considered one of the finest singers in modern Egyptian history, Leila Mourad was born in Cairo to a Syrian father and a Polish mother. Encouraged by her father, she began singing in the 1930s. Her acting career quickly flourished after the prolific writer and producer Togo Mizraahy cast her in several of his films, often with her real name in the title. Her marriage to actor and director Anwar Wagdy catapulted her to superstar status, making her one of the Arab world's leading actresses. Mourad appeared in more than 20 films and sang hundreds of songs before retiring at the peak of her career, aged 37, in 1955.

A portrait of Union Feministe founded by Hoda Chaaraoui, taken about 1950 in Beirut. The Arab Image Foundation

Asmahan, photographed about 1930 in Beirut. The Arab Image Foundation. Born Amal al-Atrash in Syria in 1912, Asmahan moved to Egypt at the age of 3. She quickly became a music star after her debut at the Cairo Opera House as a teenager and went on to sing the compositions of some of the great artists of the era. Her voice was considered one of the few to rival that of Umm Kulthum. Asmahan’s personal life was fraught with failed marriages, suicide attempts, rumoured affairs and an alleged espionage role in the Second World War, which made her death at 31 in a car accident a source of mystery and rumours for decades.

The poster for the 1941 film 'A Thousand and One Nights'. Directed by Togo Mizraahy, it starred Aqila Rateb and Ali Al Kassar. Abboudi Bou Jawde

The record cover for 'Fairuz At Ba'albak', 1960. Abboudi Bou Jawde. The only survivor among these great figures, Fairuz - born Nouhad Wadie' Haddad - is a Lebanese treasure whose voice has echoed across the Middle East for decades. Fairuz, now 85, began her career in the 1940s, singing on national radio in Lebanon. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Fairuz recorded nearly 1,500 songs, released more than 80 albums, made 20 musicals and sold more than 150 million records. She is the biggest-selling Middle Eastern artist of all time and one of the best-selling music artists in the world. She has received many awards and accolades and was most recently awarded the Legion of Honour by French President Emmanuel Macron.

A print from the 2018 exhibition 'Shirin Neshat: Looking for Oum Kulthum'. Courtesy Noirmontartproduction

An interactive exhibition paying tribute to Arab divas of film and music from the 1920s to the 1970s will open in Paris next month.

The exhibition features icons such as Leila Mourad, Warda Al Jazairia and Asmahan, as well as many other famous Arab female performers from Cairo, Beirut, the Maghreb and even France.

Held at the Arab World Institute in Paris, the immersive exhibition will allow visitors to walk through reconstructed sets furnished with personal items, costumes and jewellery belonging to legendary voices and faces of Arab entertainment history.

Beginning in Cairo during the 1920s, the exhibition journeys through the Egyptian capital’s time as the intellectual centre of the Arab world.

In this time period, the Egyptian feminist movement allowed women to be pioneers in the film and music industry, and their inroads paved the way for the formidable singers, actresses and producers who gained much acclaim in the decades that followed.

With some revelatory insights into the sometimes turbulent lives of these women, the exhibition highlights the significance of these timeless icons’ fame and success amid the social and political developments of the period.

Across the generations, the singers became the incarnations of Arab identity and contributed to the emergence of pan-Arabism in the 1960s and 1970s.

After the social and geopolitical changes of the 1970s began to reframe the entertainment industry in the Middle East, the power of the ‘diva’ began to gradually fade, but the fascination with the period and its aura never has.

Leila Mourad – considered one of the most notable singers in modern Egyptian history – appeared in more than 20 movies and performed hundreds of songs before deciding to retire at the peak of her career in 1955 at the age of 37.

Warda Al Jazairia, the “Algerian Rose” who was more commonly known by her first name, was an Algerian-Lebanese singer who began her singing career in Paris before moving to Egypt, where she worked with some of the country’s greatest composers of the time, building a large fan base across the region.

Better known by her stage name Asmahan, Amal Al Atrash became a star after her debut at the Cairo Opera House as a teenager. She went on to perform the compositions of some of the great musicians of the era. Hers was considered one of the few voices able to rival that of the illustrious Umm Kulthum.

The exhibition is scheduled to run from March 3 to July 25.

• For more renowned Arab voices, visit the Arab Showcase page