Jimmy Khan is possibly one of the most hardworking artists in Pakistan. This is not to take away from anyone else’s work. But Jimmy’s been at it for well over a decade. When not in the studio, you could find him performing live at various venues across Lahore pretty much every weekend, for years. It’s where he developed his sound and refined his stage presence.

His own music carries a strong signature. Listen to his entire discography, from forever fresh-sounding Baarish to the more fun, filmy and upbeat Haye Dil, which he produced and performed for the Pakistani film Paray Hut Love, and you’ll notice that most of the songs carry a masterful playing of the acoustic guitar with soft and melodious vocal performances.

Judging by the content of his music alone, Jimmy Khan comes across as a forever romantic. He once mentioned to a section of the press that his own typical songs are “A lot about heartbreak, distance etc.”

“Waisay, mera dil har waqt toot-ta hai! [By the way, my heart breaks all the time]” he says, adding that, “Aur jaisay hi toot-ta hai, naya gana banta hai [And as it breaks, a new song is formed].”

One wonders whether that holds true for his latest release, Ghar [Home]. It has very strong American folksy vibes in how the guitar playing begins the song. Perhaps that’s what his music is at heart — folk, but from another place, another continent, with lyrics sung in Urdu. A little bit of here and there mixed together.

A musical gypsy at heart, in Ghar, Jimmy Khan tries to figure out where to call his home

It’s being this kind of gypsy at heart that Jimmy expresses in Ghar. He questions what it means to call a place home and where his home might be? He leaves a part of himself wherever he goes. One place has friends, others have trees that are associated with old memories, etc. Where does he go? Where is home?

The guitar-playing reaches a crescendo in the middle of the song. The tension he’s been building is at an all-time high. There’s an anxiousness in his vocalisations, where he expresses the need to find his home, and now.

Ghar is a beautiful song but there is something utterly and completely heart-breaking about it. There is beauty and gentleness but it makes the heart ache. Perhaps because this romantic soul that clearly has so much to give is unable to settle down anywhere.

You want the protagonist of Ghar to find his home, finally. But the only issue is that, once his angst is resolved, so will it be the end of his art as we know it. There will be no conflict, no heartbreak to write songs about.

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 26th, 2023