Samira Ghastin Karimona (; born 25 December 1935), better known by her stage name Samira Toufic (, surname also spelled ''Tawfik'', ''Tawfiq'', ''Toufiq'' or ''Taoufiq'') is a Lebanese singer who gained fame in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

for her specializing in singing in the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

Shawi Arabic.

Biography

Samira was born into a Lebanese Christian family in the village of Rmayleh, Lebanon. She lived in the Rmayleh neighborhood of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

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 ...

, with her sister and her husband. As a child, she enjoyed Classical Arab music and was particularly a fan of

Farid al-Atrash Farid al-Atrash (; October 19, 1910 – December 26, 1974), also spelled Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian singer, oudist, composer, and actor. Although born in Syria, he immigrated to Egypt at the age of nine with his mother and siblings, ...

. She often climbed a tree at her home and sang his songs aloud. She was heard by musician Albert Ghaoui, who was impressed with her voice and asked her father to become her musical mentor. Ghaoui introduced Samira to the Egyptian musician Tawfiq Bayoumi who taught her the '' tawashih'' musical form. She gained her stage name "Tawfiq" (or "Tewfik") ("Success") when she declared ''al-Tawfiq Min Allah'' (success is from God). Her first hit on Radio Beirut was a song originally sung by Bayoumi called ''Maskin Ya Qalbi Yama Tlaawat'' ("Oh My Heart How You Have Suffered"). She struggled for success in Lebanon, due to the highly popular competing acts of

Fairuz Nouhad Wadie Haddad (, ; born November 20, 1934 or November 21, 1935), known as Fairuz (, ), is a Lebanese singer. She is widely considered an iconic vocalist and one of the most celebrated singers in the history of the Arab world. She is pop ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

and Wadi al-Safi, but she excelled after basing herself in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

in the 1960s and 1970s. There, the Jordanian Broadcasting Authority (JBA) employed her with the request that she sing in the Jordanian dialect. The JBA trained her to sing in the local dialect to make her music genuinely sound Jordanian. Her first song played by Jordanian radio was her first hit, ''Maskin Ya Qalbi Yama Tlaawat''. Samira performed her first concert at a Jordanian village called Ainata and the following day was invited to perform at an event attended by King

Hussein Hussein, Hossein, Hussain, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein, Hussin, Hoessein, Houcine, Hocine or Husain (; ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-N (), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or ...

. King Hussein became a fan of her East Jordanian tunes and '' mawawil''. She became the representative of Jordanian music to the

by singing with the dialect of Jordan. Samira would often perform in flamboyant, Jordanian-traditional-style dress, which gave her a "Jordanian aura". She became famous in Jordan for the nationalist-inspired songs ''Diritna al-Urduniya'' ("Our Jordanian Home Land") and ''Urdunn al-Quffiya al-Hamra'' ("Jordan of the Red Kuffiyah"), both songs that sought marry the concepts of the traditional Arab Jordanian culture and a Jordanian sense of nationhood. Her most commercially successful love song was ''Al Eyn Mulayitain'' ("Two Trips to the Water Spring"), which was about a rural girl who crosses a bridge multiple times a day ostensibly to collect water for her family, but with the actual intent of meeting a young man she is in love with. Samira is generally considered the first major artist to represent Jordanian music and make it popular in the Arab world. Nonetheless, Samira's popularity was not matched by other Jordanian singers until the early 1990s with the singer

Umar al-Abdallat Omar Al-Abdallat (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: `Umar al-`Abdallāt) is a Jordanian people, Jordanian Singing, singer-songwriter credited with popularizing Bedouin music. He has produced and/or performed a number of patriotic Jordan ...

. Samira currently lives in Hazmiyeh, a town and suburb of Beirut. The Hazmiyeh Municipality threw her an honorary celebration on 20 July 2015.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tewfik, Samira 1935 births Actresses from Beirut Lebanese Christians Lebanese film actresses Lebanese people of Armenian descent Lebanese women singers Living people Musicians from Beirut