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SMR 001LP
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2026 repress. Om Kalsoum! They call her "The Rose of the Nile," "The Queen of the Nile," "The Daughter of the Nile" or even "The 4th Pyramid of Egypt" since she's known as the greatest Egyptian singer of all times. Om Kalsoum's mythical life story of a poor peasant girl who grew up to become the face of Egypt is a 20th-century fairytale. Almost half a decade after her death the power of her music and singing is still moving the hearts of millions of people worldwide. At the end of her overwhelming career she was introduced to the young but brilliant composer Baligh Hamdy who wrote this 30-minute lasting monument for her in 1969. In the footsteps of Mohamed Abdel Wahab, the godfather of Egyptian modern music, Baligh Hamdy refreshed the classical Egyptian orchestra sound with the addition of stylish instruments like electric guitar (Omar Khorshid), organ (Hany Mehanna), accordeon and horns that were adapted to the eastern tonal system. The studio version of this immortal Alf Leila we Leila must undeniably be archived under the best recordings ever made in music history!
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SMR 002LP
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2026 repress. Om Kalsoum! They call her "The Rose of the Nile," "The Queen of the Nile," "The Daughter of the Nile" or even "The 4th Pyramid of Egypt" since she's known as the greatest Egyptian singer of all times. Om Kalsoum's mythical life story of a poor peasant girl who grew up to become the face of Egypt is a 20th-century fairytale. Almost half a decade after her death the power of her music and singing is still moving the hearts of millions of people worldwide. At the end of her overwhelming career, she was introduced to the young but brilliant composer Baligh Hamdy who wrote this 30-minute lasting monument for her in 1970. In the footsteps of Mohamed Abdel Wahab, the godfather of Egyptian modern music, Baligh Hamdy refreshed the classical Egyptian orchestra sound with the addition of stylish instruments like accordeon (Faruk Salamah), electric guitar (Omar Khorshid), organ (Gamal Salamah) and horns that were adapted to the eastern tonal system. Together with the immortal Alf Leila we Leila, El Hob Kollo must undeniably be archived under the best recordings ever made in music history!
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SMR 003LP
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2026 repress. "Enta Omri" is Om Kalsoum's most famous song, composed by Mohamed Abdel Wahab, who is still rightly regarded as a prominent musician and composer in Egypt. The creation of this song was the first long expected collaboration of two musical giants, which came at the repeated urging of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser. There was talk in Egypt on the streets and in the media about what was believed to be a cold relationship between the two legends. Finally, after years of estrangement, Mohamed Abdel Wahab took the initiative and offered Om Kalsoum a song by poet Ahmed Shafiq Kamel, for which he had just composed a musical score. To his surprise, she responded positively and started to like the theme upon hearing it a few times. After a month of rehearsals, "Enta Omri" was released in February 1964 to critical acclaim and packed performances. The event was so grand it was labeled "The Cloud Meeting." With "Enta Omri," Abdel Wahab opened up the traditional repertoire of the diva to a more innovative style, which the composer was known for. The use of the electric guitar and a long instrumental intro, fusing oriental themes with Western musical elements, made the song particularly special, securing its place in Egyptian musical history. Despite some criticism from other Egyptian composers from that era, the song was soon recognized as a milestone and opened a path to modernize Arabic music for many other musicians and singers. "Enta Omri" is loved by Arab and non-Arab audiences alike. Paying respect to the great diva, dozens of artists around the world have reinterpreted the song, adopting the intro's catchy guitar melody in their compositions.
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SMR 004LP
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2026 repress. The rich and lengthy instrumental intro is just a precursor of the emotion present in this song. The talent of the composer is underlined by how he utilizes the traditional style of singing poetry in a more open and creative way. Abdel Wahab's infusing of long and groovy interludes with varied tonality, rhythmical patterns and an overall unique approach, carries Om Kalsoum's powerful voice and brings the song to an incredible climax. In this way, he gives more color and depth to the music and the skilled soloists in the orchestra are finally able to breathe. Sensual rhythms, breaks and dazzling solos of accordeon (Faruk Salamah), guitar (Omar Khorshid), violin (Ahmed Al Hefnawy) and organ (Hany Mehanna), have ensured this song is an all-time classic for belly dance routines. Souma Records thought it was time to re-release this monument on a high-quality vinyl format.
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OME 1028LP
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Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Om Kalsoum's La Ya Habiby, originally released in 1963. A titan of middle eastern music, the contralto singer Om Kalsoum (or, Umm Kulthum) was hailed as "The Voice of Egypt" or "Egypt's Fourth Pyramid," and as she reportedly sold over 80 million records worldwide during her lifetime, she is one of the most popular singers of all time. Born in a small village in the Nile Delta, either in the late 1890s or the early 1900s, she joined her father's family group at an early age and as a teenager, was taught classical Arab music by singer Mohamed Abo Al-Ela. The composer Zakariyya Ahmad convinced her to move to Cairo in the early 1920s, where the composer and oud player Mohamed El Qasabgi introduced her to the Arabic Theatre Palace, where she enjoyed her first taste of success, leading to her breakthrough in the early 1930s and subsequent tours of the middle east; appearances in local films and the regular broadcasts of her live concerts allowed her to surpass her rivals. At home, her peak period is seen as the 1940s and '50s, yet she continued to record enthralling work in the '60s and '70s, including "La Ya Habiby," an epic song of heartache, composed by Riad El Sombati, with lyrics by Abdelfatah Moustapha, first recorded in 1963. Kalsoum has since been cited as an influence by Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, Bono, and Jah Wobble, among many others.
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