Profile

Salman Alvi is undoubtedly one of the finest ghazal singers of Pakistan in the modern era. He has created a unique style of his own. His mellow voice, excellent pronunciation and rendition of poetic Urdu verses has evolved him into one of the most sought-after ghazal singers, not only in Pakistan but around the globe as well. From Mir and Ghalib to Faiz and Faraz, Salman’s repertoire mesmerizes audiences of all tastes and ages alike.

Holding an MBA from The Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Salman is also one of the highest educated music professionals in Pakistan today.

He started to perform on Radio Pakistan, Karachi at the tender age of 4 years where he regularly used to play different musical instruments like the banjo, mouth organ and later accordion and was at that time, popularly known as 'Salman Mian'. He started his TV performances in 1968 as a child star and then progressed to being a popular ghazal artiste, performing regularly on the media and at private and corporate events. 

During his student days he formed a pop-music band called "The Raindrops" which was a very popular band of its time. During those days Salman studied the Western music system and was the guitarist as well as one of the lead vocalists of this band.

He then proceeded to study Eastern classical music under the tutelage of the late Ustad Chand Amrohvi and entered the world of ghazal singing. Journeying through the roads of light music, his acclamation to fame came in the early 80s in the genre of ghazal singing when he performed his famous ghazal "Ye kis ne kaha tum kooch karo, batein na banao Insha Ji" on TV.

While having performed regularly as a ghazal artiste on various TV programmes like Andaz, Jhareney, Suron ki Mala, Melody Night, Raat Gaye, Bazm-e-Ghazal, Bazm-e-Mehdi Hassan, Salman has also hosted many famous music shows on TV like Bazm-e-Ghazal, Sur Zindagi Hai, Bazm-e-Mehdi Hassan and Suron Ke Rung, to name a few.
 

Ajnabi sheher ke ajnabi raaste, Ye kis ne kaha tum kooch karo batein na banao Insha Ji, Sakht hai ishq ki rehguzar, Uski gali mein phir mujhey ek baar le chalo, Sub maya hai, Faraz tujh ko na aaein muhabbatein karni, Har aik lamha shab-e-gham hai kya kiya jaey are some of his popular renditions.

Born to intellectual parents from the academia, education has remained an equally important priority with Salman. His father Syed Aminuddin Alvi, a well-known and acclaimed educationist of Pakistan, and his mother (who was also from the academia) made sure that their parenting guided him to maintain the best balance between his musical talents and his academic distinctions. 

After having completed his Honours in Economics from the University of Karachi, Salman went on to complete his MBA with flying colours from the topmost business school of Pakistan, The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.
 

His corporate career led him to major multinational and national companies where he worked in the field of marketing for almost 12 years, after which he established a marketing and brand activation agency by the name of "Genesis International (Pvt) Ltd.”, where he was fortunate to be a participant in launching mega multinational and national brands in Pakistan.

Under his recent venture, he has signed a franchise for Pakistan for a unique Australian range of products by the brand name of 'Microskin'.

Salman has always been passionate about helping talented people as well as giving back to the society and community whatever, whenever and wherever possible. 

As part of his passion for sharing his experience in the field of marketing, he has been a regular guest speaker at various business schools and universities and has also been a visiting faculty at the IBA for some years. 

Apart from working with some social community projects and NGO programmes, Salman has also regularly helped out many talented individuals in the field of music, Rahim Shah being one of the most prominent and acclaimed singers from amongst them.