Planet of the East Cafe

Planet of the East — Kawkab Al Sharq in Arabic — is one of a handful of small Baghdad coffeehouses opened by fans of the Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum after her two legendary visits to Iraq. The cafe sits on Al Rasheed Street, in the dense run of heritage venues between Maydan Square and the Mutanabbi quarter. Inside, framed photographs of Umm Kulthum cover almost every inch of wall space; her recordings play on a continuous loop; and the regulars — a mix of old men who remember her concerts firsthand and younger Baghdadis curious about the city's twentieth-century cultural memory — sit with strong black tea and dominos. A short stop, but a vivid one if you want to understand why a single Egyptian voice still defines so much of Baghdad's emotional landscape.