Al-Atlal
Al-Atlal (Arabic: الأطلال),(The Ruins) is a poem written by the Egyptian poet Ibrahim Nagi, which later became a very famous song sung by famous Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum in 1966.[1] The song was composed by the famous Egyptian composer Riad Al Sunbati after two years from the first Umm Kulthum's song composed by Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Inta Omri إنت عمري (You are My Life), and the both of them were a very huge success.
The poem
The song mixes between two poems for the same poet Ibrahim Nagi meaning that the lyrics of Al-Atlal song are not exactly the words of Al-Atlal poem, the second poem is named Al-Wadaa الوداع, and beside that, the song produced after 13 years from the poet's death.
Criticism
A lot of critics considered the song as 'The Crown of the Arab Song' and the best 20th century arab song. It is considered by many the best of what Umm Kulthum sang and the best of what Sunbati composed.