Daniyal Ahmed is a musician and anthropologist from Pakistan who teaches at Habib University in Karachi. He also runs the honiunhoni record label, through which I’ve been introduced to some truly beautiful music rooted in Pakistan’s rich musical traditions. I urge you to seek them out and support their releases on their Bandcamp page.
The latest offering comes from the Talib Trio with Aap ka number hai? which translates as “Is this your number?”, a phrase coined by the trio’s Muhammad Talib. Daniyal says, “It’s Talib’s pet phrase, and as is typical in Karachi style dialogues, it will either be said to you in a friendly manner, or swung right at you.”
Hailing from Karachi, Talib’s biography reveals how he reinvented the Tambooro, an instrument inherited from his father, by adding frets to enable melodies to be played where previously it was used to create a rhythmic drone.
As well as playing the self-invented fretted Tambooro, Talib also plays the Electric Bulbul and is joined by Muhammad Khan on Dholak and Shahid Ali on Harmonium. No stranger to experimentation, all of the tunes are original reinterpretations that Ahmed explains are “Sindhi and Balochi pieces, and two popular Pushto songs, all played from a heart that understands the melancholia of Karachi’s immigrant labourers and the bittersweet sentiments of its kaleidoscopic communities.”
honiunhoni doesn’t hang around; the album was only recorded earlier this month by Daniyal and the legendary producer Nizar Lalani (also Talib’s mentor) on the rooftop of the apartment building where Daniyal was born and from where he also runs the label.
Aap ka number hai? releases March 22, 2024
Pre-order via Bandcamp: https://honiunhoni.bandcamp.com/album/aap-ka-number-hai