Hamnawa

Home
Analytics
Archive
About

Note from the Editor

Hamnawa features curation, reviews, and analysis of Pakistani pop music. We focus on music old and new, famous and obscure, pop and not-so-pop.

I first started writing about Pakistani pop over 10 years ago. The overarching thesis of Hamnawa is that the arc of Pakistani music is a story not just of music, but of technology, business, and politics. And while various societal factors influence the direction of Pakistani music, it cannot be understood with a global lens only. This particular narrative has a unique historical trajectory. A story of its own to be told.

– Zeerak Ahmed
Editor

Following Hamnawa

We publish on the Hamnawa Substack a few times a month. This feed is available on RSS.

You can also follow Hamnawa on Instagram, Threads and Twitter.

Team

Editor

Zeerak Ahmed

Contributors

Laila Dodhy
Shahan Shahid
Shahmir
Musab bin Noor

Subscribe to Hamnawa

A publication about Pakistani pop music

People

Zeerak Ahmed

@zeerakahmed
I'm a designer, engineer and writer from Lahore. During the day I lead a design team at Amazon, Inc. I make novel Urdu technology called Matnsaz, and write about Pakistani pop music at Hamnawa.

Shahmir

@shahmir
I write about music

Shahan Shahid

@shahanshahid
Shahan is a master's student at UC Berkeley who grew up in Lahore. He hopes to write a book about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's work and legacy one day. He tweets @Shahan03.

Laila Dodhy

Laila Dodhy writes and curates playlists for the Pakistani music magazine, Hamnawa. She is also studying User Experience (UX) and researching at Purdue University. In her free time, she also experiments with 2D and 3D animations @somewhatmajnoon.

Musab

@musablali
Doctor, pop culture nerd. That about covers it.
© 2025 Zeerak Ahmed
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture