After the breakthrough success of his first two singles, “Janaan” and “Ankaha,” we now follow Qamar Saleem as he shares his journey from passionate musician to a rising music sensation. Armed with a soon-to-be-launched brand new single called Sona, we catch up with the ever-scintillating Qamar Saleem in an exclusive pre-launch interview. How has the success of your first two singles have impacted you so far? It has been an amazing ride. Janaan’s success completely took me by surprise, crossing 1 million views on YouTube. It was such a fulfilling and inspiring experience that drove me to record Ankaha, a song I hold very dear and yet, is also concurrently relevant to these adverse times. While Janaan is a light-hearted feel-good song, Ankaha is vastly different. Ranging from emotion, structure, vocals, instruments, video concept, expression, etc the most challenging portion was the demand for the display of my vocal abilities. I am overjoyed to see that all the effort bore fruit, with Ankaha crossing nearly 3 million views on YouTube. Despite the rousing success of Ankaha, I refused to rest on my laurels and continued to record a third song. Every song I release is part of my story. Through intentional unconventional and diversity, each song I share with the world strengthens my resolve to share my story the only way it was meant to be shared, straight from my heart. And each step I’ve taken has ingrained a deep belief in my music and brought renewed conviction for me to continue the pursuit of my passion, conveying a message to all to follow one’s dreams, against all odds. ‘While I did rise from obscurity, I honestly don’t think I am a sensation at all, just thankful millions have liked my music. No success is attributed to just one element, so first and foremost, to me, is certainly the help from God, who infused the revival of my passion within me’ It seems like you rose out of obscurity into an overnight sensation. What do you think is the reason for your success? While I did rise from obscurity, I honestly don’t think I am a sensation at all, just thankful millions have liked my music. No success is attributed to just one element, so first and foremost, to me, is certainly the help from God, who infused the revival of my passion within me. That gave me the zeal to pursue this all the way. In addition, my passion and the refusal to follow a beaten path were key to making music and videos that boast emotion, melody and most importantly, authenticity. One can never underestimate the hard work in putting together a winning team. I consider myself a global music citizen, which explains the intertwining of global music genres that I hold so dear into my music, which I think is another differentiating factor. However, I still don’t seek stardom. I am just sharing my music. Music is my passion and I am thankful to all the followers for such an overwhelming response. This is truly refreshing, and rejuvenating, given my demanding professional career. I’ve noticed that each single you’ve released has been vastly different, be it from genre to subject matter and even down to the video concept. Is there a purpose to this or are you going by feel? Diversity is certainly at the centre of my music and the idea of bringing uniquely different songs is my music identity. I feel, too many times, artists back themselves into a corner and don’t experiment enough. When I restarted recording music last year, I simply wanted to share my music the way I had imagined and felt it. As I have travelled and lived around the world and experienced so many cultures and music genres, I firmly believe music is global and the confines of cultures, geographies and language should not restrict or stifle it. With that intent, I aim to bring my own brand of music by blending different genres I have experienced. Making music is not just about sharing a song but making a connection. Hence, I choose to share music that touches and stirs a deep emotion inside of us, yet is relevant to the prevailing circumstances and times. My first song “Janaan” sent a message of hope in these troubled times. My second song “Ankaha” was a ballad for the broken-hearted, bringing solace to those who were grieving and a reminder not to leave most important feelings unspoken. And “Sona” promises to bring yet another unique message, thanks to an accomplished lyricist Peer Zahoor for making the song truly poetic. In some ways I see myself as a storyteller, with music as my medium! This is exciting, can you share with us when “Sona” will be released and will it also be available worldwide? I plan to both release “Sona” internationally and air the official music video of “Sona” on YouTube on July 30. It took me 30 years to release my first single and to be launching my 3rd original song within a period of 9 months is really something unbelievable. It makes me proud to have come so far and happy God gave me this opportunity. So there you have it, friends. A man with a heart, talent, purpose and enough love for the whole world. Look forward to more updates as we track new developments on Qamar’s upcoming release, Sona. The interview has been conducted by Beverly Grafton who is a veteran vocalist and voice actor from Singapore. Recently, she chose to move into creative writing, copywriting and occasionally blogging