Umm Khalsoum

Umm Khalsoum was a fabulous and world famous Egyptian singer who reached the summits of her fame in the 60ies and 70ies. She is perhaps the biggest Arabic music artist ever to have lived. In the Middle East everybody knows and loves her. She was referred to as "The Lady" by Charles de Gaulle and was regarded as "The Incomparable Voice" by Maria Callas. The rich and famous would fly in from the entire region for her concerts at Kasr el Nil. Muammar Khaddafi's revolution in Libya was postponed because of a radio broadcast of an Umm Khalsoum concert. She has sold more records than The Beatles, and her funeral in Cairo in 1975 was attended by four million people, making it one of the largest gatherings in human history.

It is known that she had the ability to sing as low as the second octave, as well as the ability to sing as high as between the seventh and the eighth octaves at her vocal peak. Her remarkable ability to produce approximately 14,000 vibrations per second with her vocal chords, her unparalleled vocal strength (no commercial microphone utilized for singing could withstand its strength, forcing her to stand at a 1- to 3-meter radius away from one), and her voice’s unique and breathtaking beauty that surpassed convention arguably made her one of the voices of all time

This is a YouTube video from 1966 of The Pearl of The Nile singing Al Atlal (The Ruines), my alltime favourite piece of Arabic music.