Mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, honored the much loved Bollywood Stars by presenting the team with the white Smithbilt hat to Salim, Sulaiman, Vipul Mehta, Shweta Pandit, and Raj Pandit.
The White Hat is a long-standing tradition in Calgary, a symbol of the Western hospitality and good cheer Calgarians like to share with visiting guests.
About the White Hat
The White Hat Ceremony is a long-standing tradition in Calgary, a symbol of the Western hospitality and good cheer we like to share with visiting guests.
The white Smithbilt hat has been bestowed on numerous celebrities and dignitaries on their visits to our city since the 1950s, when Calgary’s Mayor, Don MacKay, started the tradition.
MacKay was inspired by the white hat after traveling to Toronto with 250 excited Calgary fans to see the Stampeders compete in the 1948 Grey Cup (the Canadian Football League championship game). The exuberant group sported white cowboy hats, which soon became a hit with easterners, and presented a hat to Toronto’s mayor as a way of saying ‘thanks’ for the city’s hospitality. Years later, when he was mayor of Calgary, MacKay began distributing them to visiting dignitaries.
Today, Tourism Calgary and The Mayor’s Office welcome dignitaries visiting Calgary with a special white hat ceremony. If you’re bringing someone to the city and would like to request a ceremony, please contact Tourism Calgary for more details.
His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan was ” white hatted” on his first visit to Calgary by Mayor Ralph Klein.
About Salim-Sulaiman North America Tour 2014
Iconic Bollywood musical duo Salim-Sulaiman will embark on their first ever North American tour this November 2014 with stops in Vancouver, San Jose, Calgary, Toronto, San Antonio, Atlanta, Houston, Washington and Fort Lauderdale.
Accompanied by their band, Salim-Sulaiman will also welcome to tour singers Vipul Metha, winner of Indian Idol 6, and Shweta Pandit, who regularly performs with AR Rahman.
Salim-Sulaiman have been composing music for over a decade having scored for movies including Rab Ne Banadi Jodi, FASHION, Roadside Romeo, Iqbal, Dor, Heroine, Chak De India, and many more.
The versatile duo has scored for a string of Bollywood movies, composed for several Indi-pop sensations including Viva, Asmaan, Shweta Shetty, Jasmine and Style Bhai among others, composed and produced hundreds of TV commercials.
Recognized for their talents throughout the industry, Salim-Sulaiman have received numerous awards including the 2004 Screen Award for Best Background Music for Bahoot; the 2005 Screen Weekly Award for Best Background Music for Dhoom; the 2005 Technical Award for Best Background Score for Ab Tak Chhappan; the 2007 Zee Cine Technical Award for Best Background Score for Krrish; and the 2014 Mirchi Music Award for Best Indi-Pop Song of the Year.
Incorporating cinematic, folk, Electronica and Sufi influences to their music, Salim and Sulaiman Merchant are among India’s most respected composers. Recently they composed the musical Merchants of Bollywood, as well as their much awaited Hollywood film Sold which is rapidly gaining attention at numerous film festivals.
They have been nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards and collaborated to remix songs with Lady Gaga.
The duo has enthralled audiences across the world with their live concerts, particularly during their performance at the FIFA World Cup 2010 opening ceremony. In addition, Salim-Sulaiman have been part of numerous television shows including their role as celebrity judges on Indian Idol.
Their greatest honour has been performing in the presence of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan twice, once in Kenya and more recently in India. They have also had the privilege of performing in the presence of Princess Zahra.
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