Naima Samih ( ar, نعيمة سميح, born 1953 in Derb Sultan,

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

) is a Moroccan artist. Born in a Saharawi family of thirteen children in

, Naima Samih started singing at the age of nine. She stopped school at an early age and worked with a seamstress to help her family, but gave up to take a chance for music. In the early seventies she got a breakthrough, taking part in the musical show "Mawahib" (a show that revealed Moroccan talents such as

Samira Said Samira Abdelrazak Bensaïd ( ar, سميرة عبد الرزاق بنسعيد, Samīra ʿAbd ar-Razzāq ibn Saʿīd; born 10 January 1958), professionally known as Samira Said ( ar, سميرة سعيد, Samīra Saʿīd), is a Moroccan singer, who ...

, and Rajae Belmlih). She became a star in the 1970s with the release of her song "Jrit Ou Jarit" also known as "Yaka Jarhi". It became a hit throughout the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

, from

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

all the way to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

region. Unlike her fellow singers from Mawahib, she stayed in Morocco to pursue her career and not to go to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, that was welcoming voices from across the Arab world to work with its leading composers and writers. ''"I think''," she said, "''that one can achieve success and reveal itself to the world without immigrating"''. Her Khaleeji song from

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, "Wagif Aala Babikom", was a huge success.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samih, Naima Living people 20th-century Moroccan women singers People from Casablanca 1953 births