Karan Khan

POETRY & PRACTICE

From close reading to performance

In an interview with Radio TNN, Karan described reading widely to find poetry to sing. In October 2021 he defended a doctoral thesis on modern genres of Pashto verse at the University of Peshawar’s Pashto Academy. Dawn’s thesis report ↗

His 2017 Sufi repertoire brought together Rahman Baba, a long poem by Mustafa Salik and a peace duet written by Syed Shah Saud. These selections put historical and contemporary verse in the same programme. Dawn’s Sufi album report ↗

In 2016 he described a self-funded project to document artists and writers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the then-FATA. The report records the project as work in progress. Project interview ↗

SHARED CREDITS

Karan Khan and Yamee Studio

1. 2021

   Ishq Khana

   An Urdu recording from Diyaar-e-Ishq. The release credits Karan Khan as singer and composer, Amir Ameer for the lyrics and Yamee Studio for the music. Release credits reproduced by Popnable ↗

2. 2026

   Ta Rana Larry

   Malaika Khan sings. The label credits Karan Khan for lyrics and composition, and Yamee Khan for music. Official label credits ↗

3. 2016

   A tribute to Haroon Bacha

   At a Peshawar folk-music evening honouring Haroon Bacha, Karan spoke about the elder singer’s musical experimentation. Dawn event coverage ↗

DISCOGRAPHY & DOCUMENTATION

The poets behind the albums

Tasweer drew on work by ten Pashto poets, including Rahmat Ullah Dard, Israr Atal and Ali Akbar Siyal. Karan told The Express Tribune that the selections followed months of research. Tasweer interview ↗

Dawn identifies Chinar, Intezar, Tasweer, Kaif and Saqi among his earlier Sufi albums. Its account of his 2017 project lists a musician as “Yammy Khan” in the ensemble. That published credit gives the role as an ensemble contribution. 2017 ensemble and repertoire ↗

In a 2016 interview about documenting regional artists, Karan named Haroon Bacha as his musical ideal and credited Israr Atal and other poets with helping his career. Read Karan’s interview ↗

Radio Mashaal also archived a programme on Karan’s travels to Türkiye and Britain. Pashto radio archive ↗