A profile of Abdul Hannan

Fresh off the press, is a new piece I’ve written for Dunya Digital on Abdul Hannan. An excerpt:

Only one Pakistani musician had three songs in the top ten streamed local songs on Spotify last year – Abdul Hannan. In fact, only one other artist has more than one song on this list: producer Rovalio, whose two songs happen to be collaborations with Abdul Hannan.

To understand how big of a deal this is, it’s good to look at the company Abdul Hannan is in. For context, Spotify reports that the most streamed local artists in Pakistan include the likes of Atif Aslam, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - and Abdul Hannan. The other artists on this list are also the stars of a new golden age of Pakistani music: the Young Stunners, Umair, Rovalio, and Asim Azhar.

For many born in the 90s or earlier, and especially those that disconnected from local cultural scenes after adolescence, the arrival of this new golden age of Pakistani music is still news. It’s time that the transition is acknowledged and understood.

I spoke to Abdul Hannan to understand his meteoric rise, and wish to tell one of the many stories of this rapid and large cultural change taking over our country.

I’d love your thoughts on this essay, and I’m deeply grateful to Hannan for being so gracious. I walked into the conversation impressed with him, and I walked out of it respecting him even more. If you haven’t heard his music (and somehow you still follow Hamnawa), I’d highly encourage taking a look.