Legendary Samira Tawfiq Honored in Syria

(ST) – Abou Rumaneh Cultural Center hosted a symposium Sunday evening to honor the famous Lebanese singer Samira Tawfiq under the patronage of  the Ministry of Culture. Alongside, an exhibition was organized to depict her artistic work ,to trace her singing career since she is well known for her Bedouin singing. The event was accompanied by a musical evening.

The archive exhibition included Samira Tawfiq’s old albums, cassette and tapes for her most beautiful songs. The exhibition displayed as well her personal photos, and pictures documenting her acting career taken from her  most important films, in addition very rare black and white photos from her early feature films.

“This symposium highlights the Bedouin singing as one of the rare Arab popular singing styles.”  Ahlam Al-Turk, Director of folklore department at the Ministry of Culture, declared. And ” Samira Tawfiq is for sure an icon of Bedouin singing!” She exclaimed.

Furthermore, the symposium included a musical evening led by musician Waddah Rajab Pasha during which a collection of  Samira’s songs were performed by Syrian singer “Saba al-Jamal”, such  as “Asmar Ya Helou”, “Ya Hala Beldeif” and other songs that the audience enjoyed and interacted with.

 It is worthy to mention that Samira Tawfiq is a prominent Lebanese singer. Her real name is Samira Karimona. She was born on February 17th, 1936. She gained fame in the Arab world by  focusing on the Bedouin dialect and folkloric songs. She has also acted in a number of Arab films.

It was a generous gesture to pay her tribute in Syria through this exceptional event, since she lived for a long time in Syria.There she performed Bedouin songs from the Syrian cultural artistic heritage.

Interviewed and Photos:

Nada Haj khidr