Timeless delight
At Al Meher Recording, Dubai, Intesar Salim showcases an eclectic collection of country music, a business that took off from a personal passion for the soulful oldies. Rajeev Nair has the details
You placed gold on my finger
You brought love like I’ve never known
You gave life to our children
And to me, a reason to go on…
For Intesar Salim, Don Williams’ You’re My Best Friend was more than “a reason to go on.” It showed him the path.
Never a country music fan before, never having lent his ears to the gentle plucks on the guitar or the soulful vocals, Salim, then in his 20s, was moved by the song he heard on radio. He was hooked. A country music buff was born.
And he went on to chart his life, shaped first on the contours of a pet passion for country music, and then delving into its heart, and deciding that if music be his business, then let it be country alone.
That was a tough choice, of course. His father had been running an electronics shop in Bur Dubai. A Pakistani born and brought up in Dubai, Salim carried on the legacy following his father’s death. And then he decided to change the track of his profession, and took to selling music. Not any music. Music that he believed in. Which happened to go against the popular trend of fast-paced disco music that was a rage in the early 1980s when he put up the banner of Al Meher Recording LLC.
Salim’s preference for a business-line that was in tune with his passion did not upset his mother, who stood by his faith in the idea.
Al Meher worked; and to this day, even as hip hop, rap, garage, bhangra and remixes surge on popular music charts, Salim continues singing his own tune, predominantly country, old classics, a little of jazz, a whole rack of Christmas song collections…
“My heart and soul is in old music,” says Salim, who calls his business “a profession with passion.”
Situated in the heart of Bur Dubai, behind Astoria Hotel, the unassuming little shop “just happens” before your line of vision. As you stroll down the lane, what probably would catch your attention is the hand-written displays announcing the shop’s eclectic collection of oldies. And of course, the strains of soothing music that seem to take a life of its own amidst the street’s cacophony.
Sun will shine across the river
You’ll never be unhappy again…
It’s Jim Reeves singing. Salim gently humming, singing along, being one with the music.
Jim Reeves is back as the flavour of the month. And Salim, who never fails to understand the pulse of the season, has put in a whole wall of music that is just Christmas collections. It is a special season of merry songs of the yule-tide.
Salim’s collection of festive songs tower over some 500 titles ranging from the indispensable Jim Reeves to Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Alan Jackson, Nat King Cole, Daniel O’Donnell to reggae and tijuana instrumentals. There is a further spread of titles for children. The albums are selling fast, says Salim, with the seasonal sales beginning from September accounting for some 4,000 to 5,000 CDs.
And come to think of it, when he opened the shop in 1983, his total collection was just about 500. Today, occupying the shelves are over 5,000 different titles in CDs and audio tapes including the likes of Eddie Calvert, Skeeter Davis, Freddy Fender, Connie Francis, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Jim Reeves, Kenny Rogers…You can pick a Louis Armstrong jazz, a classical Beethoven, a Placido Domingo, and even the vibrant beats of Osibisa.
He values his collection tremendously; it’s more like a collector’s pride. Incidentally, he is a music collector too, and a sample of the vinyls in his collection is on display at the shop.
Every album in Salim’s shop is what he himself approves of. “I can’t sell music that I don’t believe in,” he says. He doesn’t believe in quite a lot of today’s fads in music. And he has no regrets. He has never been tempted to expand his portfolio of products by bringing in the foot-loose music of today.
If you want a classification of what Salim sells, let’s say, it’s music from the 1940s through the ’70s. And what drives Salim in his passion? The sheer simplicity of the songs, the meaningful impact they have on one’s life… “I was a sort of latecomer into the country music scene but once I was there, I was impressed. The music is so close to life,” he says.
Among his favourites is Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck…
Please release me, let me go.
For I don’t love you anymore.
To live our lives would be a sin.
So release me and let me love again
And again, Reeve’s Moonlight and Roses, and many gems from Kenny Rogers.
Surprisingly, there is a steady growth in interest in the oldies, he says. Despite the influx of television, Internet, the works, he sees people, many youngsters, returning to original oldies. “It is a wrong notion that country music is dying,” says Salim. “The buyers have only grown.”
His clientele is a good spread of expats including people from the Indian subcontinent, South Africans, Filipinos, Mauritians… “My shop has benefited from word of mouth promotion,” says Salim. He has regular buyers who have been coming since the past two decades. Sometimes one would ring at 04-353 1278 with a demand for a rare title; Salim would source it down for the client. It’s total involvement at work – and in music.
He knows the songs, can sing you the lyrics word for word, and he also pastes up the little tidbits that appear on newspapers about the old masters.
Now in the 20th year, business at Al Meher has been pursuing its steady notes, says Salim. That probably is a reflection of the man’s contented personality too. Salim, he says, is a happy man. He is happy with life’s everyday gifts, the kind many people tend to overlook and under-rate. Some good music, a loving family, business that takes its one gentle rhythm… yes, Salim is happy.
Moonlight and roses
Bring wonderful memories of you
My heart reposes
In beautiful thoughts so true…
Salim sings along with Reeves.
