The Jam Jar Presents: Ustad Noor Bakhsh

At nearly 80 years old, Ustad Noor Bakhsh’s story is an interesting one. From an extremely remote village near Pasni, Balochistan, he is a master of the Balochi Benju (a keyed Zither), which he has played since he was a child.
Noor Bakhsh is well known as a legendary instrumentalist throughout the Makran Coast, but only became more widely known in the last five or so years.
After seeing a mobile phone video clip of Ustad playing, Musician and ethnomusicologist, Daniyal Ahmed traveled 1000km from his home in Karachi to find him. Daniyal’s recent recordings of Ustad went viral on social media and his global touring career began shortly afterwards.
The Benju looks something like a crudely electrified zither operated by typewriter-like buttons. Its existence began as a Japanese children’s toy called a taishōkoto before it was adopted by Balochi musicians and made into the refined folk instrument that it is today.
Ustad plays an electric Benju, creating his unique sound through an old pickup and small Phillips amp he bought from a Karachi junk shop two decades ago. He carries forward the legacy of his teachers and inspirations such as Bilawal Belgium and Misri Khan Jamali but his own music is influenced by various traditions and musical forms far beyond Balochistan. His virtuosic playing is deeply rooted in Balochi musical forms and enriched by his knowledge of South Asian Raags, which he also renders in his own, experimental style.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗮𝗺 𝗝𝗮𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀
𝗨𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗸𝗵𝘀𝗵
+ 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁
𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟯𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆
𝗗𝗼𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝟴𝗽𝗺
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗮𝗺 𝗝𝗮𝗿, 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗹
His repertoire includes ancient Persian and Kurdish tunes from before the modern borders of Iran and Pakistan were put in place and Balochistan divided as a result. In one of his recent recording sessions, he even played an Arabic Ghazal.
He also renders popular and folk tunes in all the major languages spoken across Pakistan and even plays popular Bollywood tunes. Other than this diverse repertoire, he has several original compositions, including one inspired by the bird songs heard in the mountains around his village.
His debut album, 'Jingul‘, was released digitally in September 2022, and came out on vinyl via the UK’s Hive Mind Records on September 15, 2023.