Samira Ghastin Karimona Samira Tewfik

Samira Ghastin Karimona (Arabic: سميرة غسطين كريمونة; born 25 December 1935) better known by her stage name Samira Tewfik (Arabic: سميرة توفيق surname also spelled Tawfik Tawfiq Toufiq or Taoufiq) is a Lebanese singer who gained fame in the Arab world for her specializing in singing in the Bedouin dialect of Jordan. She has also acted in a number of Arab films. Samira was born into an Armenian Christian family in the village of Umm Haratayn in the Suwayda region of Syria. Umm Haratayn (Arabic: أم حارتين also spelled Umm Hartein) is a village in southern Syria administratively part of the al-Suwayda Governorate located north of al-Suwayda. Nearby localities include al-Hirak Khirbet Ghazaleh and Da''el to the west and Umm Walad and Bosra to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Umm Haratayn had a population of 574 in the 2004 census. Modern-day Umm Haratayn was established by Druze migrants led by the Halabi family between 1867 and 1883. The village is the birthplace of Arab singer Samira Tewfik. She lived in the Rmeil neighbourhood of Beirut Lebanon where her father Ghastin worked as a dock laborer.