Salim Merchant revives world heritage sites

Salim Marchant and Sonu celebrate Diwali in New York’s Times Square

Salim Merchant celebrated Diwali

Wow! What a sight! Our beloved music composer Salim Merchant celebrated Diwali in a unique way this year.

While celebrating Diwali in New York’s famous Times Square, he shared a special moment with Sonu Nigam.

And do you know what was special? His new song “Her Jogiya” was played on the big screen there! Imagine, Indian music was resonating in New York’s most famous place – that’s a matter of pride!

Sonu Nigam Receives a Special Diwali Gift

Salim also gave Sonu Nigam a special gift on the occasion of Diwali. He honored Sonu by including his voice in his upcoming project “Bhoomi 2025.”

On Sunday, Salim shared a video on his Instagram, standing in front of Times Square, showing his song on the big screen.

In the caption, he wrote, “Celebrating Diwali at Times Square and a Diwali gift for @sonunigamofficial, @paradox.here, and @shraddhapandit here. So happy to be taking Indian music to the world! Bhoomi 2025.”

Excitement shown in the video

In the video, Merchant can be heard saying, “Hey, Jogia at Times Square. Wow. Thank you, Sonu Nigam, Paradox, and Shraddha Pandit.

This feels truly amazing.” The joy was evident on his face, and why wouldn’t it be—who wouldn’t be happy to see their music performed on such a large scale on foreign soil?

A New Avatar of the ‘Bhoomi’ Project

Music composer-producer duo Salim and Sulaiman Merchant have launched the latest edition of their acclaimed annual music initiative, ‘Bhoomi.’

Originally launched in 1999 with a futuristic twist, the project was relaunched in 2020.

For ‘Bhoomi 2025,’ the siblings have created an impressive list of songs spanning diverse genres and languages.

A Fusion of Diverse Music

The lineup includes a Gujarati Krishna pop track with Parthiv Gohil, a classical-pop fusion with Shankar Mahadevan, and a romantic ballad with Shaan.

Sonu Nigam and Paradox performed high-energy dance numbers, while Papon and Shreya Ghoshal brought to life melodies.

Music from across the country

This edition also includes a Kashmiri composition with Noor Mohammad, a Punjabi anthem with OAFF, ​​Burrah, Krish Mondal, and Sudan, and a Uttarakhandi track with Pawandeep Rajan and Hansika Pareek. So much diversity in one project—truly amazing!

Future Plans

Speaking about the project, Sulaiman previously said in a statement, “We’ve always tried to do different things, explore genres, and discover new artists.

When we started, it was just folk and devotional music; then we moved into pop.

We tried hip hop, we tried EDM, and now it’s a great mix of it all. Next year, we’d like to do Malayalam, Tamil again, Odissi music, and go to Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in the Far East.”