Syrian-Canadian crooner Matt Mardini is living the Canadian dream

Matt Mardini made history as the first singer of Syrian origin to perform at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Whether he is singing Jazz, Blues, Standards, Rock & Roll or Classics from the 40s up to the latest hits, Mardini can charm crowds in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Armenian and Arabic.

Mardini says, “I always prefer to say vision and goals because dreams when you’re sleeping.”

He came to Canada in 2012 – and for him – the glass is always half full when it comes to his new home.

He says, “Nobody feels stranger here. Because once you step into this country, no matter where your colour, your skin, your religion, your background, this is the charter of our constitution.

“This is a country built on immigration and everybody here is a citizen. And I see it. I feel it.

“Me, myself, this is my personal experience. I can’t speak on behalf of somebody else. But this is what I see. This is what I lived all my life here.”

Mardini sees so much potential in his new home country of Canada. He says, “Aside from the challenges, there are opportunities.

“So instead of focusing on the obstacles, focus on the positive things, first of all, Canada is a country based on the concept of immigration. So you will find open doors everywhere. You will need to find the doors and knock on the doors.”

When he lived In Syria, Mardini worked alongside a friend and sang on the side. Once he moved to Canada, he started a marketing startup and sang on the side to start, but soon after turned his focus entirely on his singing career.

In 2019 he released his album HIBA (named after his wife) singing a tribute to Canadian icons – like Leonard Cohen, Bryan Adams, Ginette Reno, and Paul Anka.

Just five years after immigrating to Montreal, Mardini found himself performing at Montreal’s iconic Bell Centre.

He describes it as, “That was the milestone of my career.

“Singing in front of 25,000 people. It was big. That was the point where I said to myself, oh, you can make it. Let’s do it.”

Mardini is an optimist. He shares, “I always say everybody has a talent. Nobody is talentless. Everybody has a talent. Find your talent.

“It might be something different that you were doing back then when you were in your country. But it will be most efficient if you pursue the same passion you had there. Don’t change what you do. Change the way you’re doing it because you’re in a different place. But success here, I think it’s a must. It’s a definite. Anybody can succeed here.”

Mardini and his wife Hiba have three young children, all of whom are musically inclined.

Mardini has a show coming up in Dubai on December 8^th. He cannot wait to be introduced as the Syrian-Canadian crooner from Canada.

“For me, it’s not only about the concept. It’s just Dubai,” Mardini shared in anticipation of his upcoming show. “The idea is Dubai is a very challenging place to showcase your talent because it’s crowded.

“But yet, I go there as the Canadian, Syrian, crooner who is willing to spread this positive energy and talent all over the world. Starting from Canada, because I started here, I have that very good and strong, let’s say, base and background built on my heritage from Syria.

“So I can’t say I started from scratch. I start on what I have, built on it, and now I’m ready to spread it all over the world. And Dubai is the, let’s say, the point I start.”

Mardini shared that she “partnered with a very well-known Quebecoise artist, Valérie Carpentier,” on his song ‘Melody.’

“She wrote the lyrics and the music. I only contribute a little bit to the lyrics and I produce the song.”

He describes, “The style of the beautiful genre of the ballads. And it’s a beautiful love song and it would be the best for the first dance by the wedding. It’s everywhere on Spotify, iTunes, everywhere. Fantastic. And in Arabic, melody.”

The song is, named after his daughter. He shares, “It was like inspired by the name of my daughter, but the song, typically it’s a love song, not a song from a father to a daughter. No, it’s a love song.”

Mardini revealed something he heard, “Once from someone in the music and movie industry. He said, don’t do what only what people like. If you do what you really love, people love it more.

“Don’t make your goal is to satisfy people. Do what you do best. So based on that, I choose every single new, let’s say, a song that I wanted to spread and I want to breathe life to it.”