Music Director Salim Merchant of the Salim-Sulaiman duo is literally on cloud nine after the stupendous success of the Salim Sulaiman Live 2014 concert tour held in November 2014 in North America.
The success of this concert tour is all the more special for the composer duo since it raised a lot of funds for charity.
This isn’t all, as they were also white-hatted by the Calgary Mayor to being honored with the Congregational Certificate of Merit from the Governor’s office in New York to even getting a day named after them.
In a freewheeling chat, Salim Merchant talks more about the various merits and recognition that came their way during this tour and also gives us a first-hand account of the fans’ response to them.
Excerpts from the interview:
One hears that you raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in this charity tour. That sounds wonderful.
Salim Merchant (SM): (Smiles) Yes, we raised a lot of money in Calgary and Houston amongst other places. In fact in Atlanta, we even donated to the NGOs like Raksha and Vibha who support women and children. We did this because we genuinely believe in giving back to the society. Apart from this we also did a lot of workshops for upcoming musicians and singers in the United States and Canada which was personally quite satisfying as we shared our personal experiences with them especially encouraging them to follow our roots and our own musical traditions despite living in the US, which will make them truly unique since they will have a great mix of Western and Indian music.
Please carry on.
SM: We also collaborated with a lot of local artistes like the Ismail Choir in Vancouver which was a great way of exchanging musical traditions. Though so many Indians living in the US do not really speak Hindi, they can sing Hindi songs beautifully and it was my mission to give a boost to that. It is also a testimony to the fact that music cuts across language and cultural barriers and at the same time is so powerful that it lets you connect to your roots.
Via Salim Merchant Opens Up About His North America & Canada Charity Tour! – MissMalini.com.
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