“A brilliant virtuoso endowed with a charismatic musical presence and personality.”

 

Homayoun Sakhi (همایون سخی) is the most innovative Afghan rubab player of his generation—a brilliant virtuoso with a charismatic musical presence and personality. He is a composer, vocalist, and musician born into a family steeped in musical tradition. Born in Kabul in 1976, he was raised in one of Afghanistan’s leading musical families. From the age of ten, he studied rubab—a double-chambered lute and the national instrument of Afghanistan—with his father, Ustad Ghulam Sakhi, following the traditional ustâd-shâgird (Persian for “master-apprentice”) method.

 

In 1992, Homayoun and his family were forced to flee the civil war in Afghanistan, seeking refuge in Pakistan. Overnight, music was banned in Afghanistan, and to protect his beloved instrument, the rubab, Homayoun had to hide it beneath mattresses and blankets as they made their way to a refugee camp near Peshawar. Once in Peshawar, Homayoun’s musical talent quickly caught the attention of locals. His unique ability to blend traditional ragas with Afghan melodies made him a popular figure in the community. He soon found himself performing on both radio and television, sharing the stage with some of Pakistan’s renowned singers and musicians.

 

Tabla player, he comes from a long line of famous Pakistani ‘Punjabi Tabla’ players and is the son of the late Tabla maestro Ustad Allah Ditta Khan, who was one of the most respected Tabla players of the 20th century in Pakistan. He is a predominantly tabla player and has collaborated with Pakistani classical and Sufi musicians in the recording of classical music programmes on Radio Pakistan. His family runs music schools in Lahore and other places to pass on the art of tabla.