Everyday Life

January 19, 2020

Sunny Khan Durrani releases second album, Aetizaaz. Instep lends an ear.

Sunny Khan Durrani

Sunny Khan Durrani is an artist who was born and raised in Peshawar and first jumped into serious spotlight for collaborating on a song ft. on Mooroo’s album, Pehli (2016) and more significantly on the collective Patari Aslis Volume II (2017).

His body of work is not limited to the collective Patari Aslis; he has released a full length album called Khabarnama prior to this record, irrespective of the times we’ve learnt to embrace where releasing singles with music videos is the norm.

For his fearlessness, he picked up a nomination for Best Hip-Hop/Rap artist at Sepma Awards for the song ‘Log Kya Kahengay’.

After releasing the excellent Khabarnama, an album worth listening to for its fearlessness, Sunny has released – in 2020 – a new album called Aetizaaz. Though a hip-hop/rap artist, who can rap in four languages: English, Urdu, Pashto and Punjabi, Sunny Khan Durrani is politically aware and that is most reflective in his music. More self-assured now than preceding years, Sunny Khan is also willing to share his personal narrative on this latest album.

With the release of the artwork earlier this month, Sunny confessed on his Facebook page, “Aetizaaz is a deep personal journey of all the struggles that happen inside and outside the head. It’s a project that grew up with me and traveled through the years patiently with me. Also it’s based on my real name Aetizaaz because it’s the side of me which people don’t know about, just like they didn’t know my real name.”

Lake of Fire

Like Khabarnama, Aetizaaz is a full length record; nestled somewhere between albums that dropped at the end of 2019 such as Janoobi Khargosh’s Survivors, Strings’ Tees (30) and other prominent ones that have just dropped, Sunny’s album hangs on with 8 songs that go from ambient to melancholia to classical to devastating tones.

We enter Aetizaaz through the single ‘S.O.S (Intro)’ and the superstar here is the piano and the mood reflects a palpable melancholia that cannot be ignored. It makes you think of where we are and where we are headed without going overboard and ends at 2 minutes and 36 seconds.

If the first track had classical music ethos, the second track ‘Kal’ takes us to an ambient world where at 2 minutes and 38 seconds, Sunny echoes a reality that some will relate to. Not an optimistic calling, but a mirror to an absolute reality. Sunny sings at his most vulnerable, “Chal Rahey Pal/Jhootay Saaray/Dhoka Hai Ye Kal/Jal Rahein Hum” and continues in the most subtle vocals. ‘Kal’ is easily one of the best tracks on the record. It questions, it doesn’t claim to pander to anyone nor aims to sound like Bollywood in a bid to get on Coke Studio. If anything it seeks to remedy a pain, a grief that will constantly reminds what children in this country go through, one case being Aitzaz Hasan, Sunny’s namesake who is no longer with us because of his bravery as he died preventing his school mates from suicide attacks. Or, maybe that is one interpretation that comes to mind given the song’s delicate lyrics and Sunny’s real name being Aetizaaz.

‘Kal’ is the kind of song you don’t want to get past because it’s so beautiful and so subtle but in the case of a review as we get to the third track, ‘Meri Jaana’, you realize that Sunny Khan Durrani can rap and do the hip-hop thing but he can also create a record with singles where he doesn’t attempt those abilities but tries to sing with as much emotion as he can muster. The reason I can say this is because when you hear the song, you realize that he’s changed the game on you and it’s a welcome return even as he dares to sing.

On ‘Meri Jaana’, Sunny Khan Durrani continues to build an ambient world but you can also hear acoustic guitars and the loneliness without the beloved that may last forever. It echoes one love in one life, which is both sweet and has the mellow romantic ballad ethos that isn’t as drastic in sound as many other similar-themed songs. In fact, the entire album is cohesive with the sound on a subtle, melancholic side. “Kahin Koi Parinda Teri Yaad Mein Rota Hai/Aur Khud Sey Ye He Kehta Hai/Meri Jaana Tu Ne Na Jaana Bas Tera Hoon…”

You could easily place this song as a soundtrack on a drama serial as opposed to some of the sonic productions we hear. It has the potential to go all the way and compete with the best of them. It’s surprising a lovelorn song like this doesn’t have more hits.

What is smart about this album is that Sunny Khan Durrani, singing in subtle tones, has kept the timing of each song to a point where you get surprised by what he’s trying to say and the sonic landscape he has built but doesn’t stretch it to a point that one presses forward to see what emerges next.

Chehray’ for which Sunny has also put out a music video, is according to Sunny’s vision for the album falls under alt-rock category and he kills it. The vocal subtlety never leaves; the music is not screeching and the lyrics about personal facades and strangers make it one of the album’s highlights.

With ‘Laut Aa’ and ‘Rehnay Do’ the landscape shifts to ambient but they are the most mournful tracks on the record addressing death in metaphors.

‘Yaar Dissay’ brings the Punjabi lyrical Sunny Khan Durrani on the forefront but even as he sings about ‘Ishq’, the beats carry the ambient mood but the word brings the romance to front.

Khwaab’ is the ominous genius number where he raps like a pro and the distorted guitar adds a layer but it’s the words that will get you where Sunny takes the political and social realities of our blood-drenched society that has hurt the city of flowers, Peshawar, so much and has taken so many lives; Sunny admits about dreaming of the dead, shooting the gun, and how those who are responsible also provide words of comfort. It’s like a confession of someone who is so fed up of the innocent lives lost that a voice inside says shoot. It’s a very brave song. And a fantastic rap song that should be blasted in every corner of this country.

In short, if Khabarnama was Sunny Khan Durrani showcasing his verve, with Aitezaz, he doesn’t lose the verve but adds a personal spin that is as real as the world around us. For that alone, Sunny Khan gets plenty of points. This is a record that should be heard and once you hear it, you won’t want to let go. Simple, subtle and beautiful.



Sunny Khan Durrani releases second album, Aetizaaz