Sufi superstar Satinder Sartaaj set to feature new songs at Vancouver concert
Satinder Sartaaj has done it all: turned poetry into international hits, played a lead role in a Hollywood movie, dabbled as a professor with a PhD in Sufi music and worked on a United Nations human rights campaign.
Sartaaj is in Vancouver for a concert this weekend as part of Canada-wide tour, his first since starring in the Hollywood historical drama Black Prince.
"It's is a huge deal for me and my audience," he said.
Just this week he released the song Udaarian from his new album Seasons of Sartaaj and he plans to sing several songs on stage that he's never performed in public before.
Sartaaj has brought a new appreciation and recognition to traditional Sufi music, selling out concerts with his poetry-inspired songs.
"Sufi music is about the soul and love and the true love with the Almighty as well," he told Stephen Quinn, host of CBC's The Early Edition.
"You're getting poetry and words and the melody."
Sartaaj, who is originally from northern India, credits his passion for poetry and music as something innate to his very being.
"It was honestly probably in my nature," he said. "My background is a farming background, it wasn't musical or poetic in any way."
Hollywood moment
One thing he's definitely not is an actor, Sartaaj said with a laugh — and yet, despite that, he made it to the big screen.
While on tour in North America, Sartaaj was noticed by Hollywood's Punjabi community, which was looking for an actor who could play the last maharaja of the Sikh empire who befriended Queen Victoria.
Sartaaj made headlines when he became the first person wearing a turban to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the 2017 premiere of Black Prince.
"When I stepped on the red carpet, everyone was just looking at me like, 'Who is this guy? Something on his head?' because they don't even know that this is called a turban. It was a very proud moment," he said.
But with the pride comes responsibility, he emphasized.
"You have a burden of responsibility on your shoulders because you are representing your culture and language," Sartaaj said.
Sartaaj performs at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Saturday, July 21.
With files from The Early Edition.
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