کہہ دینا

Please welcome a new contributor to Hamnawa, Farzan Ahmad Khan

I recently came across Kehdena by Abdul Hannan and Annural Khalid. As one does with a good song, I played it on loop for three days straight, making it a late entry into my Spotify Wrapped. I looked up the song on YouTube and was a little surprised to find out it had been out for a year, and perhaps even more surprised to see that it only had about 950,000 views. I recognize that this is relatively high for indie music, but it just felt like one of those songs that would be on more radars. 

Instead of doubting whether it’s as great a song as I think, I am convinced it is plagued by the same issue a lot of great Pakistani music suffers with: reach. I think about this especially as I compare Pakistani music to music across the border, or Pakistani music that becomes famous through reels. Much great music goes unheard because Spotify algorithms and music charts don’t work the same way for Pakistani music. 

I often use the radio function on Spotify to discover new music but I find it increasingly inefficient when it comes to desi music at large and Pakistani music specifically. When creating a radio of a Spotify song, I am increasingly likely to be recommended the same songs regardless of the initial song I have used. For English music, suggestions might lean more into the sound and genre of the song. For desi music, suggestions keep replaying the most popular artists. There is also a lack of organization, with fewer sub-genres for desi music on Spotify compared to English music. In short, Spotify knows less about Pakistani music than it does about English music, making new Pakistani music harder to find for people that might like it.

To get around this, I am presenting the following self-indulgent analysis in the hopes that you might fall in love with this song, too. As someone who knows a lot of music but doesn’t know how to talk about it, I feel like our music has long leaned on pop-rock or classic-folk sounds and the R&B vibes of this song make it stand out for me. The R&B-inspired elements make the song more intimate, adding a sense of vulnerability that feels both universal and deeply personal. The usual rock-oriented music designed for a collective experience in a larger space. R&B influences have started showing up in Pakistani music recently, especially when you consider the early music of artists like Hasan Raheem and Shamoon Ismail. But you don’t see a lot of duets. On some levels, I can draw similarities to two hit duets from recent seasons of Coke Studio: Jhol (featuring Maanu and Anuural) and Mehram (featuring Asfar Hussain and Arooj Aftab). Going back to my earlier point about visibility, It would be interesting how much traction both of those songs would have gotten if they weren’t produced under the Coke Studio banner. To draw another comparison, duets gain a lot of traction in India as they are likely to be produced as a part of a movie soundtrack. 

Kehdena is what you would get if you put the concept of modern-day yearning in a bottle and mixed it with the special something they used in old-school love songs. In Kehdena, similar to Jhol and Mehram, the vocals are allowed to shine a lot more, and I am glad that it happens because Hannan and Annural complement each other brilliantly. The atmosphere of the song is crafted by how their voices weave together in great harmony. A slow ballad that will give you all the feels. It makes me feel the same way that this remake of Mera Bichra Yaar, Yunhi Rastay Main or Koi Anay Wala Hai did. These are all great songs to go back to (especially the last one because it features a John Abraham appearance that you won’t see coming). More than the song itself, Kehdena made me feel proud of how ever-evolving and incredibly cool Pakistani indie music continues to be. I hope you give the song a listen because I am confident you’ll end up having it on loop for 3 days too.