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Samir Chamas: The Arab voice of Japanese anime

Samir Chamas was among the first people who did voice acting for the Arabic dub of Japanese anime
Samir Chamas was among the first people who did voice acting for the Arabic dub of Japanese anime
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10 Jul 2022 05:07:20 GMT9
10 Jul 2022 05:07:20 GMT9

Amin Abbas

DUBAI: Samir Chamas, a Lebanese actor, radio producer & voice actor is known for being one of the most influential voices in the world of Arabic Dub Art in classic anime shows such as: Hanzou Hattori in Manga Sarutobi Sasuke and Pew and Papy in Takarajima (Treasure Island.)

He is also known as the voice for Papa Smurf in the original “The Smurfs” series.

In an exclusive Interview with Arab News Japan, Chamas revealed his inspiration for voice acting in the mid 70’s: “I loved imitating animal sounds in my childhood at our farm in my old village, then this passion grew in time and I have participated in many Arabic dubbed anime and cartoon projects like: Manga Sarutobi Sasuke, Takarajima (Treasure Island), Adventures of Pepero the Andes Boy, Maya the Bee, The Smurfs and more.”

Chamas was among the first people who did voice acting for Arabic dubs of Japanese animes. He said: “I started doing voice acting for old Japanese anime series in the mid 70’s. I was very happy & excited about it as I have the passion for it as well to reach to the minds of the children through these shows.”

“The first project that I worked on for the Arabic dub was Maya the Bee in the mid 1970’s, then it was followed by Takarajima, Manga Sarutobi Sasuke, Adventures of Pepero the Andes Boy, Manga Hajimete Monogatari, Miimu Iro Iro Yume no Tabi & others.”

“I had the ability of changing my voice layers to perform different as talent grows and improved with time and practice,” he added.

Chamas said one of the challenges he faced during his projects was the technology at the time was not as advanced. He explained that they had to record their voices on reel videos and audio tapes at the same time.

“Other voice actors and I were all sitting in one room with a big screen similar to cinema screen with multiple microphones, we were recording according to our roles and timing in the scenes. If one of us made a mistake then we have to start recording all over again,” Chamas told Arab News Japan.

“One of the most important facts at that time is that we were doing the voice acting of the Japanese anime series during the civil war in Lebanon as we have to come from different places to reach the recording studio & doing it under the violence, destruction & fear of being hit or killed during those horrifying times, but our passion & commitment for doing the voices of these shows as a duty for us made us feel the importance of finishing them so that it can be remembered by many generations to come,” he explained.

Chamas said the new technology has made recording processes much easier, saving a lot of time and effort.

The voice actor said he was proud of the reactions and feedback he has received from fans in the Middle East. “It made me realize I had an impact on many people of all ages.”

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