http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201201/default.htm Saudi Aramco, the oil company born as an international enterprise 75 years ago, distributes Saudi Aramco World to increase cross-cultural understanding. The bimonthly magazine's goal is to broaden knowledge of the cultures, history and geography of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their connections with the West. Saudi Aramco World is distributed without charge, upon request, to interested readers worldwide. en-us © 2005 Aramco Services Company. All Rights Reserved. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201201/um.kulthum.the.lady.s.cairo.htm Mention “The Lady” (“al-sitt”) in Cairo and you are talking, as everyone knows, about Umm Kulthum. Though she died in 1975 and her former opera house is now a traffic jam, her voice—at once starkly plaintive and darkly mysterious—is still on the playlists of almost every street, and every heart. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201201/silver.the.enduring.craft.of.yemeni.silver.htm Time was that Yemeni silversmithing was something of an endangered species among world jewelry arts. Bolstered by new demand and rekindled national pride, a few dozen young silversmiths are now chasing new life into one of the Middle East’s finest jewelry traditions. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201201/seeds.seeds.of.high.asia.htm Grown in the shadow of the Pamir Mountains from seeds hand-picked for hardiness, the genetic heritage of the Ismatuloyev family’s rye field drew a multinational seed-collecting team to it and dozens of others across Tajikistan. The team’s goal: Keeping food on the world’s table, for this century and beyond. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201201/an.extreamly.civile.diplomacy.htm From the late 1500’s into the 1700’s, Morocco and England shared much in both trade and politics, which led to regular exchanges of ambassadors. Among the Moroccans who came to London, several became celebrities, and English writers’ detailed, often glowing descriptions of these “most accomplish’d gentlem[e]n” illuminate both the diplomats and their turbulent times. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201201/ramadan.in.the.farthest.north.htm The world’s northernmost mosque lies more than a few clicks above the Arctic Circle, in the Norwegian city of Tromsø, where this year the mosque’s members celebrated the holy month with a blending of cultures, from the local to those from afar. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201201/a.wadi.runs.through.it.htm One of the world’s most advanced systems of natural water treatment has helped transform Riyadh’s historic seasonal waterway, Wadi Hanifah, into a corridor oasis that won an Aga Khan Award for Architecture. (And yes, you can go fishing there now.) Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT