Zakariyya Ahmad

Zakariyya Ahmad knew Umm Kulthum's voice before Cairo did: the composer, trained in Qur'anic recitation and religious song, heard her performing in the Delta and was among those who urged her family to bring her to the capital. Once she arrived, he composed for her steadily for three decades — several dozen songs in all — reaching a peak in the 1940s with lyricist Bayram al-Tunisi: "Ana Fi Intizarak" (1943) and "Ghanni Li Shwayya" (1945) marry his melodies to Bayram's vernacular verse. A sheikh by training and temperament, Zakariyya was the guardian of the Egyptian turath in her circle. His signature is deep-rooted tarab: phrases shaped like the mawwal, earthy rhythms, and unhurried melody that lets a colloquial line blossom into ecstasy. A bitter royalties lawsuit estranged the two through much of the 1950s; the reconciliation's gift was "Houwa Sahih El-Hawa Ghallab" (1960), which she premiered only months before his death in 1961.