Ghalia Benali / Ensemble Constantinople "Rubaiyat – Hommage an Oum Kalthoum und Omar Khayyam" KULTHUM’S MUSICAL GRANDDAUGHTER “For me as a child, Umm Kulthum was the voice of God,” reveals Ghalia Benali. “Her voice touched the soul, not just the ears.” Born in Brussels and raised in an artistic family in Tunisia, the singer was exposed to many musical styles from an early age—and continues to dance between cultures to this day. One of her greatest inspirations remains Umm Kulthum, the most famous voice of the Middle East, whom Benali calls her “grandmother by honour.”

Together with the Iranian setar virtuoso Kiya Tabassian and his ensemble Constantinople, she dedicates herself to a new interpretation of the Rubaiyat. The Rubaiyat is a collection of poems by the Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician Omar Khayyam. Umm Kulthum’s musical interpretations of these quatrains, composed by Riad Al Sunbati, are among Benali’s favourite recordings of the Egyptian icon: “For me, the connection between her voice and the Sufi verses is not just a call to prayer—it is a prayer in itself.”

Now, together with Tabassian, she brings the Rubaiyat to the stage in new arrangements—complemented by the Iranian musician’s own settings of Khayyam’s texts, which carry centuries-old Arabic poetry into the present.