Umm Kulthum, Light on the Desert

This is a vinyl cover for Umm Kulthum’s, Light on the Desert, released in the 1960s. Umm Kulthum, also known as “the star of the east”, was a famous Egyptian singer from the 20s to the 70s who had a great impact on both Middle Eastern and Western music and society. Her songs were popular and used clear Arabic language, which also helped spread the use of Arabic and resisted the French language colonisation of North Africa. The vinyl cover for ‘Light on the Desert’ has a fairly minimalist design, featuring only a photo and two lines of text in the bottom right corner and a line at the top, as well as a limited color palette. The layout on the back of the sleeve is organized and grid-like. Compared to the minimal front and back cover, the design on the record itself  is more decorative with a calligraphic typeface for the heading, and borders.

Information sources: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/28/she-exists-out-of-time-umm-kulthum-arab-musics-eternal-star

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/al-jazeera-world/2022/8/11/the-sixties-in-the-arab-world-culture