Shawshara Blog

Umm Kalthum in Arabic literally means “The mother of Kalthum” where Kalthum is a name. So, to put things into prospective, if you’re name is let’s say “John” your mother would be called “The mother of John”. That was her stage name, even though she never bore kids.
Everyone in the Arab world knows Umm Kalthum, the famous diva. Almost all radio channels up until recently dedicated an hour long show each day to play her music. Why an hour long? Well, each of her songs were that long. So, to go back to “The mother of Kalhum”, there is this classical joke that goes.

Three kids were trying to sneak into Umm Kalthum’s concert by going through the backdoor. Each kid was questioned individually about why they wanted to enter. The first kid responded: I’m the violinist, I’m playing in the concert. The second kid responds: I play the cello, and the concert wouldn’t start without me. The third kid stops to think and doesn’t know what to answer. Eventually he says: my name is Kalthum, and I want to see my mother.

If I had to guess the joke got lost in translation. We hope that the Umm Kalthum’s translated lyrics on Shawshara.com fare better. We’ve just recently added a section to Shawshara.com for Umm Kalthum with her songs and translated lyrics.