Benju boss Musician goes global in his 70s

When Daniyal Ahmed set off on a road trip from Karachi into the neighbouring province of Balochistan in early 2022, his only contacts were a few distant connections he hoped would lead him to a legendary musician. After circling villages near Pasni, a fishing port on the Arabian sea about a six-hour drive from Karachi, Ahmed by chance spotted Ustad Noor Bakhsh on the side of a lonely road sitting next to his broken motorbike, waiting for help.

- Sadiya Ansari

Ahmed, an anthropologist who teaches at Habib University, had been chasing down masters like Bakhsh in remote regions across Pakistan. Bakhsh was already well known within Balochistan as a solo benju (a type of zither) player and as Balochi vocalist Sabzal Sami's accompanist for three decades. Ahmed was alerted to Bakhsh's talents after he saw a video of him playing circulating on Facebook. A musician himself, he's invested in amplifying regional talent that has become obscured in a country lacking robust infrastructure to support musicians, especially those who play traditional music.