Sayed Darwish
Since the end of World War I, some of the Middle East's biggest musical stars have been Egyptian. Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of Abdu el-Hamuli, Almaz, and Mahmud Osman, as well as the later work of the 20th century's most important Egyptian composers and singers: Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Zakariya Ahmed. Most of these stars, including Umm Kulthum and Nagat El-Saghira, were part of the traditional Egyptian music. Some, like Abd el-Halim Hafez, were associated with the Egyptian nationalist movement from 1952 onward.