BEIRUT: “Diva: From Umm Kulthum to Dalida,” a multimedia exhibition put together by the Arab World Institute in Paris, arrived in Beirut after a run in Paris, Amsterdam and Amman, to pay tribute to the legacy of the greatest divas of the Arab world and to celebrate their enduring impact.
The exhibition at the Sursock Museum is divided into four main parts charting musical icons in the 1920s, 1940s, 1970s and the contemporary era.
Renowned singers including Umm Kulthum, Warda, Fayrouz, Asmahan, Laila Mourad, Samia Gamal, Sabah, Taheyya Kariokka, Hind Rostom, and Dalida are featured.
The black-and-white photographs of these divas, from women’s meetings and social and cultural activities, reflect their status during a period of artistic and intellectual vitality. They presented a new image of femininity and participated in political renewal in their countries from the 1920s —especially in Egypt — until the 1970s.
Through these divas, the exhibition sheds light on the social history of Arab women, the emergence of feminism in traditionally patriarchal societies, their roles in the defense of Arab nationalism and the struggle for independence, and their central contribution to artistic fields they helped to revolutionize.
