Bengaluru, India – Five decades after her passing, Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum’s music continues to be studied, performed, and cherished across the Arab world and beyond. Her legacy now finds expression in an upcoming dance theatre production—To Burn to Bloom—by Bengaluru-based Debapriya Das and her dance ensemble, Nrityakosh. The 60-minute presentation brings to stage some of her iconic works. The genesis of To Burn to Bloom was Debapriya’s own journey of studying Egyptian dance alongside classical Egyptian music.
“Umm Kulthum was one of the stalwarts of Egyptian classical music, and her repertoire has been central to my journey. Her music has an extraordinary ability to hold complex emotional states—love, longing, heartbreak, desire and surrender,” says Debapriya, founder of Nrityakosh. “As a dancer, that gives you enormous scope to work with.” According to Debapriya, the production does not simplify Kulthum’s music for the Indian audience. “Instead, we have tried to respond to it honestly through movement, theatre and visual storytelling. Umm Kulthum’s music has a remarkable ability to transcend language barriers.”
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The production deliberately avoids being a biography and is instead more of a personal tribute. “Through To Burn to Bloom, I have curated a repertoire of Umm Kulthum’s songs, each representing a different moment in her life. Together, they tell a story, not necessarily of her life, but of her artistic journey,” she adds. The production brings together Egyptian dance, music, text, visuals, and contemporary theatre. It recreates aspects of mid-20th-century Cairo through costumes, lighting, and archival-inspired visuals, with songs that became popular between the 1930s and 1970s. Debapriya hopes the production will offer a glimpse into the world of Egyptian culture, which, in many ways, seems familiar to Indians. To Burn to Bloom will be staged on September 20 at 6 p.m. at Alliance Française, Bengaluru.
