Ustad Noor Bakhsh - Pakistan

The benju master who makes the music world gasp 

From time to time, the music industry manages to correct the historical imbalance of Western dominance and the persistent disregard for non-hegemonic cultures, allowing enlightened musicians from less privileged regions to share their music with the world. (text in red is taken from a review of the 2024 Evora Festival)  

Ustad Noor Bakhsh is a Pakistani musician from the remote region of Balochistan. He plays the banjo, an instrument that was originally a Japanese toy but was brought to Pakistan by sailors. The sound of the banjo will be familiar to fans of both the sitar and electric guitar, and the long playing. Bakhsh released his first album, Jingul, in 2022, and the unexpected success has led him to play at festivals such as Roskilde and Le Guess Who? in recent years, as well as WOMEX – the world's largest professional music fair for world music.  

Somewhere between Ravi Shankar and Jimi Hendrix, Bakhsh improvises, interprets his own songs and adapts Bollywood hits in such an impressive way that even music magazine Pitchfork could not resist his exciting musical language, which is influenced by everything from birdsong to musical traditions. 

With his playing, Noor Bakhsh brings to life the historical musical roots of Balochistan and Africa. He does everything in his own unique way – and is a unique phenomenon in the global music world.