Loading ...A One-Sided Love Story: Ahmed Rami and Umm Kulthum
By: Noura Abou Hamze/Arab America Contributing Writer
Ahmed Rami, a famous Egyptian poet, fell in love with Umm Kulthum when he was a young child. This love created a one-sided love in the history of tragic love stories. Both important figures spent time together, from singing to watching the Nile River every week, to writing music lyrics. However, both knew they could not be together. Because of that, Ahmed Rami wrote her a poem, and even included a picture of her in his bedroom. Novelist Selim Nessib wrote about this story, depicting the suffering endured by Ahmed Rami before and after Umm Kulthum’s death.
Who Was Ahmad Rami?
Ahmad Rami was born in 1892, in Cairo, Egypt. He spent his early childhood in Egypt, but moved to Paris, France to study document systems, libraries, and oriental languages. He also studied the Persian language at the Institute of Oriental Languages in France. This helped him in translating the “Quartets” by Omar Khayyam into Arabic. During his life, he won numerous medals and awards, including an honorary doctorate degree in arts. Ahmad Rami wrote lyrics for iconic singers such as Umm Kulthum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab. Among the most important works of the poet are Rami Diwan, Rami’s songs, Gram Poets, and Rubaiyat Al Khayyam. Ahmed Rami fell in love with Umm Kulthum as a young child, which eventually created this one-sided love story we know about today.
Ahmad Rami Influencing Umm Kulthum
Rami highly influenced the legendary Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum. He wrote at least 200 of her songs which she performed. He met her in the mid 1920s, after coming back from Paris and began visiting her regularly every week. They sat on a balcony facing the Nile River and Umm Kulthum would recite his verses repeatedly until she reached a perfect level, which meant making each word express the emotions they wanted. His words to paper for each piece were rich in feelings and sophistication, and raised the songs to ranks that Umm Kulthum had not reached before.
Ahmed Rami did not only write her lyrics, but he also introduced her to French literature, which he already knew due to his stay in France. He helped her learn about the poetry of Ibn Al Fared, Rumi, Hafez, and gradually the lyrics and verses of Omar Al Khayyam that he translated from Persian to Arabic. He eventually wrote her a love poem entitled, “If I Forgive.” This poem would eventually became Umm Kulthum’s first recording during that time.
The creative writer behind Umm Kulthum’s music would say that loving her was like loving something untouchable, like the Pyramids. Similarly, he would always feel her love and greatness without intimacy or touch. He adored Umm Kulthum to the extent that his bedroom included a picture of her, and he would dedicate a day off from his week to spend with her every week. He did not want a relationship with the iconic singer because he feared his feelings would eventually die down – a passion he was not willing to let go.
I Loved You for Your Voice: A Novel by Salim Nessib
Salim Nessib wrote a novel called I love You for Your Voice in 1996, that clearly highlights the life of Umm Kulthum, her biography, and her work throughout the years. The novel also sheds light on the unconditional one-sided love she received from the poet, Ahmed Rami. The novel is about Umm Kulthum, and whether she reciprocated the love to Ahmed Rami. It shows the suffering he went through in loving her, extending to eventually having internal problems with the woman he eventually married. Umm Kulthum’s own marriage did not stop Ahmed Rami from loving her, and the book talks about the emotional pain he endured even after her death in 1975.
If you love Umm Kulthum, this book may be something you will enjoy reading.
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