Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-261) and index.

"The voice and face of Egypt" Some questions ; Speech about music ; Listening ; Performing ; "Popular" music ; The individual ; Social issues -- Childhood in the Egyptian delta. "Min al-Mashayikh" ; Performing experience ; The audiences -- Beginning in Cairo. Music in Cairo ; The "Bedouin" singer ; An education in music and performance ; A turning point ; 1926 and beyond -- Media, style, and idiom. Taking a direction in style; Producing concerts ; Negotiating the public ; Recordings and radio ; Making films ; Developing an idiom -- "The golden age of Umm Kulthum" and two cultural formations. The 1940s ; Musical populism ; New films ; Neoclassicism ; The impact of the new Qasaid and the populist songs -- "The voice of Egypt": the artists' work and shared aesthetics. Building the model of the song ; The concerts ; "her voice...!" ; "But can you understand the words?" ; "She was good because she could read the Quran" ; "She gave us back the Qasida" ; "She never sang a line the same way twice" -- Umm Kulthum and a new generation. The national songs and "Rabia lAdawiyya" ; "A new stage" ; Collaboration with Abd al-Wahhab ; The resilience of al-Sunbati's songs ; The Ughniyya ; The widening market ; The concerts for Egypt ; "The Fallahiin are my self" ; The repertory not sung -- Legacies of a performer.