Oum Kalsoum
One of the reasons you can tell I'm such an interesting guy is that, you know, I'm well into world music and all that. I've got like a mad crazy exploded perspective. It's probably all that Psilocybin I necked. However, I get the distinct feeling that when I'm showing off all my exotic third world LPs that people aren't suitably impressed. I mean, you know, those snazzy pieces on Etoile de Dakar, Edu Lobo and Sunny Ade, they don't barf themselves. Baby the stakes is high! It's not all, well you know.....
These are all Oum Kalsoum records on the Sono Cairo label which I've picked up over the years. As the wiki piece reiterates, Kalsoum was big for Jah Wobble and Led Zeppelin. The LPs* are better than the "best of" CD available at Amazon (full of tiny 3 minute tracks). She could often spin "Enta Omry" out over an hour! So the records are good cos the tracks are longer, and the crowd goes mental too. Funny thing is though there's not a word of English on these covers so these might all be the work of second division Egyptian divas, and I wouldn't know! Just lost in my own little word innit.
*The top one which I found just the other week in a flea market in Antibes in case you were curious.