It hasn’t even been a year since their last performance in Dubai and the “Merchants of Bollywood Music” — composing duo Salim and Sulaiman — are back on Friday at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
The brothers, known for hit numbers such as Shukran Allah (Kurbaan), Ishq Wala Love (Student of the Year) and Ainvayi Ainvayi (Band Baaja Baaraat), will offer a different flavour at this concert.
On the international music scene, the pair have collaborated with the likes of Lady Gaga and Enrique Iglesias.
“This show is unplugged so presentation is quite different,” Salim told tabloid! over the phone. “I always try and change the set up a little bit for my audience in Dubai.”
Excerpts:
Apart from being an unplugged concert, what else can we expect from the show?
I’m very excited that we will be presenting a tribute to Indian cinema. We pay homage to legends such as Rajesh Khannaji, Shammi Kapoor sahab, a couple of songs of Dev Anand, R.D Burman and touch upon a little bit of Yash Chopra. Around 15-20 minutes, but in a new and interesting way to bring back good memories of the golden era of Indian cinema. I will also do an emotional segment, which I always like to do, and bring in Shukran Allah and Bismillah, and devotional songs which I composed in the recent past. Some were composed for MTV Coke Studio and in a very different style. We will also have a big Punjabi section. It will be an entertaining mix, which I’m sure people will remember for a long time. We will be accompanied by some amazing musicians and singers and perform with a choir.
You’ve composed for a West-End production called Beyond Bollywood, which is currently running in London. What was your experience? Did it prove more challenging or different from an Indian film?
Beyond Bollywood is in the style of a full-on western musical in English and we’ve composed songs which are not Bollywood songs, even though it has Bollywood songs from us and other composers. It’s a great story about a young girl from Germany who goes to India to learn her tradition and culture, from her mother’s side, with kathak and music to save her own family-owned theatre in Munich. The name Beyond Bollywood is pretty self explanatory. It’s not just Bollywood, it has a lot of traditional Indian dances which are themselves so incredible but because of Bollywood all these amazing styles such as kathak and Indian folk music have to take a back seat. We’ve tried to present that side to the western world in a unique way and it is doing pretty well.
What do you think of UAE audiences where Indian music is concerned?
Each time I come to the UAE I see a different passion in the audience. Of course, there is a big Indian population, a big Pakistani population. Very recently I was in Dubai for the auditions of Indian Idol Junior. There are so many kids who are following Indian music so fervently. We even brought the qualifiers to Mumbai. So it’s very satisfying to know that Dubai is always buzzing. When it comes to Bollywood music or classical music, we always have a great turn out. I have heard of mushairas happening in Dubai — even Javed [Akhtar] sahab was performing. So it’s great to know that UAE is not just a business-y kind of place but has a lot of love for culture and music. And even when the place is flooded with artists performing almost every month, it’s satisfying to know the people want more.
