Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum makes Rolling Stone’s list of greatest singers

Umm Kulthum performing in Cairo in the 60s. (AFP)
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Updated 03 January 2023
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Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum makes Rolling Stone’s list of greatest singers

DUBAI: To kick off the new year, the seminal US pop-culture magazine Rolling Stone released its “200 Greatest Singers of All Time” list, selected by staff and contributors. “In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy,” the magazine tweeted.

The only Arab artist mentioned in this prestigious list is the late Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum. Ranked at number 61, she precedes major names in Western music including Michael Jackson, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, Barbra Streisand, and Elton John.

Umm Kulthum’s neighbors in the list are “Careless Whisper” singer George Michael (#62) and Kate Bush (#60), whose 1980s hit “Running Up That Hill” was revived in 2022 thanks to a “Stranger Things” episode. According to the article, all of the singers were chosen for a crucial reason: “They can remake the world just by opening their mouths.”

Umm Kulthum’s listing mentions that she “has no real equivalent among singers in the West: For decades the Egyptian star represented, and to an extent still does, the soul of the pan-Arab world.” It also describes her as “a fiery preacher,” who had international appeal and was praised by luminaries including Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant. The latter once said of hearing her voice: “Somebody had blown a hole in the wall of my understanding of vocals.”

“This is great news,” the Saudi theater producer Mona Khashoggi, who created a play about Umm Kulthum’s life, told Arab News. “(But) she should be on top of the list.”




The singer’s storied career saw her pack out venues for 50 years. (AFP)

Umm Kulthum was born in a village on the Nile Delta. As a young girl, she dressed in boys’ clothing and sang religious songs in social gatherings. In the 1920s, her family moved to Cairo, where her glittering career, during which she recorded more than 300 songs, began. She gradually become the talk of town, and, eventually, the entire region.

“To us, she was not just an artist. She was a freedom fighter and an activist,” said Khashoggi. “She did it in a man’s world a hundred years ago. She did it her way.” 


Mona Tougaard wears bridal look at Dior’s Paris show

Updated 27 January 2026
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Mona Tougaard wears bridal look at Dior’s Paris show

  • Rihanna and Brigitte Macron among attendees at show
  • Design part of new director Jonathan Anderson’s vision

DUBAI/ PARIS: Model Mona Tougaard reportedly turned heads in a bridal-inspired look on the Christian Dior runway during the recent Paris Haute Couture Week.

The runway star, who has Danish, Turkish, Somali and Ethiopian ancestry, wore a sculptural white gown with a one-shoulder silhouette and layered petal-like appliques cascading from the bodice to the full skirt.

The asymmetrical bodice featured draped detailing across the torso, while the skirt flared into a voluminous, floor-length shape.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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The look was finished with oversized floral statement earrings that echoed the dress’s petal motif.

The floral elements echoed the wider vision of Dior’s new creative director Jonathan Anderson, who drew inspiration from nature and his love of ceramics for his first Haute Couture collection since being appointed to the role.

The 41-year-old faces the rare challenge of overseeing all three fashion lines at the house — women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and Haute Couture — becoming the first designer to do so since Christian Dior himself.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Just days after presenting his latest men’s collection during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, the Northern Irish designer returned with his first couture offering.

The collection featured floral motifs on fabrics or as accessories, while sculptural bulbous dresses were inspired by the work of Kenya-born ceramicist Magdelene Odundo.

“When you copy nature, you always learn something,” Anderson declared in his show notes, which compared Haute Couture to a living ecosystem that is “evolving, adapting, enduring.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dior Official (@dior)

Other noteworthy pieces included dresses with spherical birdcage-inspired silhouettes, while other models wore vest tops with their dresses gathered around their waists.

The front row at the Rodin Museum reflected the scale of anticipation surrounding Anderson’s couture debut. France’s first lady Brigitte Macron arrived early, while Lauren Sanchez Bezos swept in shortly after.

Actor Parker Posey twirled briefly in a trench-style dress, playing to the room before settling in.

Then the space fell into a collective pause as celebrities and editors alike waited for Rihanna. When the pop star finally took her seat, the lights dropped and the show began.

Before the show, Anderson admitted in an interview with the Business of Fashion website that he previously thought couture was “irrelevant,” adding that he never really “understood the glamour behind it.”

“Now, I feel like I’m doing a Ph.D. in couture,” he explained.