Cherifa Chamia, better known by her artist name Safia Chamia (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: صفية الشامية), (January 3, 1932, Lebanon – December 17, 2004), was a

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

n singer, and Actor.

Life

Her father was Algerian and her mother was

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

. During her stay in Paris, Safia met the artist

Mohamed Jamoussi Mohamed Jamoussi () (born July 12, 1910 in Sfax and died on January 3, 1982) was a Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, ...

who wrote and composed the songs for her. ''Mahla kadek'', ''ya Kalbi ma zelt sghir'', ''ache fi omrek ma yétlaoueh'', and an operetta called ''Fatma ou Hamada''. She was discovered by the artist Abderrahman El Khatib who heard her sing on the occasion of the birthday of her older sister in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, he composed her first song titled ''Haouel ya ghanem haouel''. She arrived in Tunis in 1946 and her neighbor, who often heard her sing, introduced her to Mustapha Bouchoucha, head of the musical service of Radio Tunis, who offered to take the pseudonym of Safia, from the name of a famous Turkish singer. She quickly mastered the genre of Tunisian music and won recognition throughout the country and particularly with the ministry of culture. She died on December 17, 2004, at the age of 73; she was buried on December 18 in the Sidi Yahia cemetery of El Omrane in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamia, Safia 1932 births 2004 deaths Tunisian stage actresses Tunisian people of Turkish descent Tunisian people of Algerian descent Lebanese emigrants to Tunisia Lebanese people of Algerian descent Lebanese people of Turkish descent 20th-century Tunisian actresses 20th-century Tunisian women singers