In keeping with changing popular taste as well as her own artistic inclinations, in the early 1940s she requested songs from composer Zachariah Ahmad and colloquial poet Bay ram al-Tunisia cast in sties considered to be indigenously Egyptian. This represented a dramatic departure from the modernist romantic songs of the 1930s. The result was a populist repertory that had lasting appeal for the Egyptian audience. Later in the decade, Umm Ketchum engaged the young composer Riyadh al-Sunbath to set a number of qasa’id by Ahmad Shawqi.

The result was stylistically different from Zachariah and Bay ram’s songs but, as neo-classical works based on historically Arab poetic and musical practices, they were also viewed as indigenously Arab and were very well-received. These songs established al-Sunbath as the foremost composer of qasa’idof his generation and returned Umm Ketchum to her genre of choice.

In addition to her various artistic endeavors, Umm Ketchum consolidated her authority in the entertainment business during the 1940s by joining the Listening Committee, which selected the music appropriate for radio broadcasting, and by assuming presidency of the Musician’s Union. At this point Umm Ketchum was at the height of her artistic accomplishment, in control of virtually all of her endeavors, and highly influential in the critical medium of radio broadcasting. She became known for the strength of her personality which was manifest in many ways. She was determined that her views be taken seriously and that her business proceed in a way that was satisfactory to her.

She was known for her sharp wit and barbed humor.(8) It was also often said that she was extremely cutting when irritated or taxed. Pointing to her persistent quality of unvanquished pride, Med hat Assam recalled a conversation with her during which he reminded her that he had been present at one of her early performances for an elite family. He remembered how terrified she had been that night, to which she retorted,
“No. They were afraid of me.”(9)

Health problems plagued Umm Ketchum every few years for much of her life beginning in the 1930s. She became ill resulting from some sort of problem with the liver and gall bladder in the late summer of 1937 at which time doctors recommended treatment in one of the countries having mineral waters. The following summer Umm Ketchum spent a month at Vichy and returned to Egypt feeling better, “although,” she said, “I am bound by the limitations of a strict diet prohibiting most kinds of food.” Related problems afflicted her throughout her life. (10)

In 1946, personal problems thrust themselves on Umm Ketchum in such a way as to disrupt her professional activities for the first time in her career. She worked sporadically and contemplated retiring altogether. During the summer of 1946, she became afflicted with an upper respiratory inflammation that led to the diagnosis of a thyroid problem later that year. The physical symptoms of this ailment, combined with her fear for her voice and of the ramifications of treatment, caused serious depression.

One of few people privy to Umm Kulthum’s personal life later said that at no other time before or since did she see Umm Ketchum in such a state of despair. “It was the only time she lost her courage.”(11)

In 1947, Umm Kulthum’s mother died. the two women had lived in the same house for all of Umm Kulthum’s life and Umm Ketchum took her mother’s death as a severe blow. Later, during one of her trips to the United States for treatment, Umm Kulthum’s brother Haled died. (12)At roughly the same time Umm Ketchum suffered the termination of a romantic involvement and a subsequent failed marriage.

Her recovery was a prolonged process. She was treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital, ostensibly at the suggestion of the American ambassador to Egypt in 1949. Umm Ketchum also sought treatment for chronic inflammation of the eyes, said to be aggravated by the bright lights of the stage and film. the thyroid problem persisted and required repeated visits to hospitals in Egypt and abroad. (13)

Questions about Umm Kulthum’s personal life, especially that of why she had never married, followed Umm Ketchum from the time she began her career in Cairo until she married Dr. Has an al-Hanoi in 1954. In the 1920s she was linked with a number of men, including poet Ahmad Ramie. Her apparent strong will, sharp tongue and absence of any lasting close personal involvements prompted the assessment that “she has no heart.” Another that, “like Greta Garb” she had been disappointed in love early in life and could not love another. (14)

By dint of fame and her efforts to improve her manners and general education, Umm Ketchum had risen in Egyptian society to the point of socializing with members of the Egyptian elite. (15) In about 1946, Shari Sari Pasha, one of King Faro’s uncles, proposed to marry her. The union was immediately barred by the royal family, causing much grief to Umm Ketchum. That such a marriage could have been contemplated seriously at all was a source of amazement to may observers. However, having succeeded in attaining the position she had, Umm Ketchum seems to have believed that the marriage would be possible and was gravely disappointed when it was not.(16)

Feeling the disappointment of the broken engagement and the burdens of medical problems, Umm Ketchum agreed to marry a fellow musician, the @due player, composer and them vice-president of the Musician’s Union, Maimed Shari. The marriage was dissolved within days, regarded by both parties as a mistake, amid a tremendous outcry of protest from Umm Kulthum’s fans who attacked the character, personal status, and abilities of Maimed Shari. “as if the man had not a single good quality.” (17)

Finally Umm Ketchum married one of her doctors and a long-time audience member,Dr. Has an al-Hanoi, in 1954. Born in Salyut in 1915, Dr. al-Hanoi was raised in a conservative atmosphere similar to Umm Kulthum’s. Both were familiar with rural Egypt and the values and behaviors common to it. Both were ambitious. Both were successful. al-Hanoi finished medical school in 1940 and became on of the most noted skin specialists in the Arab world. However, in addition to the learning and elegance that both of them had acquired, they retained a sense of identity with most Egyptians.

Dr.al-Hifnawi was less a public figure; however, he was described by his son, with a certain pride, as “a ‘ballade’ sort of man” in his personal life. Like so many others, al-Hanoi and been brought to Umm Kulthum’s concerts and introduced to her by Ahmad Ramie. (18)

This union met with the acceptance of her audience apparently because, during the time of her illness, people came to see Umm Ketchum as a human being with a personal life and human needs similar to their own rather than an immutable star. Her husband remained in the shadows when Umm Ketchum appeared in public. However, according to family members and close friends and close friends, he maintained the status of head of the household. She appreciated his accomplishments and strength of character for, as all observers agreed, “Umm Ketchum hated weak men.”

Entertainment
a dramatic departure, artistic inclinations, indigenously Egyptian, like Greta Garb, the broken engagement, the young composer, Umm Ketchum