Global music platform Humnava has unveiled its fourth release, Holoyor, as it continues to redefine how music is consumed, felt, and shared. With Season 1 now unfolding through weekly releases and intimate community gatherings, Humnava is creating a new culture of listening that brings audiences closer to the music through curated sessions, conversations with its creators, and shared spaces of reflection and creative exchange.
Holoyor, meaning beloved, unfolds like a hidden passage beyond time, where memory becomes the guide and rhythm turns inward. Recorded at the now shrinking Attabad Lake, Hunza, the song moves in slow, circling waves toward a childhood that once felt soft, innocent, and unguarded, only to reveal the quiet ache of time passing unnoticed. A haunting meditation on longing, memory, and the grief of losing a former self, while still holding on to what remains sacred, Holoyor is sung in Wakhi. The track carries a deep emotional resonance, acting as both a personal lament and a spiritual balancer.
Curated by Xulfi and Sherry Khattak, Holoyor features vocals by Naveed Hassan (Naveed Deevon), Yamna Rahim, and Nazalia Rahim, and brings together a layered ensemble including Sherry Khattak on electric guitars and backing vocals, Sohail Rumi on acoustic guitars, Melvin Arther on bass, Anwar Khan on flute, Ali Habib on rubab, Ilhan Karim on Chitrali sitar, Veeru Shan on duff, Adnan Karim on percussions, and Dorian Jonas Goetsch on synth and beat. Together, they build a soundscape that feels intimate yet expansive, carrying Wakhi emotion through a contemporary arrangement shaped by mountain memory and modern texture.
Speaking about the release, Co-Founder and Creative Director Xulfi said, “For me, Holoyor is about returning to something we quietly lose – our inner child. We’re born with a kind of magic, a limitless way of seeing the world. But over time, systems and expectations build invisible walls around us, and we begin to mistake that confinement for freedom. As we grow, those walls only get stronger.
Staying free, then, becomes a choice. I try to hold on to the way I once believed—in possibility, in wonder, in the idea that things can still become good. That connection keeps me grounded. That’s why Holoyor moves me. It feels like the poet is speaking to their childhood as a lost beloved, realizing how much they’ve changed. And maybe that’s the quiet tragedy – we lose ourselves while chasing everything else.
Holding on to who we once were takes effort. But it might be the only way to remain truly free.”
Written by M Rahim (Faiz Rahim) and composed by Rahim (Faiz Rahim) and Xulfi, Holoyor has been arranged by Xulfi and Sherry Khattak, produced and mixed by Xulfi, and mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis Mastering, London. The accompanying music video has been directed by Soheb Akhtar, with consulting editor-director Xulfi, cinematography by Zain Haleem, post-video production by Mehroz Raza and Hunain Shamim, and grade by Zairi Mohd. Production design is by Hashim Ali, art direction by Sara Vohra, wardrobe by Fatima Butt, styling by Wajeeha Badar, with Ambiance as hospitality partner, Spotify as the official music streaming partner and Active Media as on-ground partner.
Beyond the music itself, Humnava has also begun building a living community around the project through a series of intimate weekly gatherings that bring artists, collaborators, and audiences together in shared spaces of listening, reflection, and creative exchange. These evenings extend the spirit of the season beyond the screen, allowing the world of Humnava to be experienced not only through song releases, but also through conversation, unreleased material, and a growing sense of collective belonging.
Co-founded by Xulfi and Muhammad Ibrahim, Humnava is a global music and art platform rooted in Pakistan that brings artists from around the world together through music. Its first season, set in Hunza, brought together over 30 musicians and collaborators from Pakistan and countries including France, Germany, Algeria, and Zambia for an immersive camp built around collaboration, creative exchange, and cultural dialogue.
With Holoyor, Humnava continues to build the world of Season 1, which will further unfold through Sway, Lost in Love, Koi Achi Khabar, Isekta, and Darmaan. Together, these songs form the first chapter of Humnava’s larger artistic journey, one that continues to move across borders, genres, and audiences while deepening the project’s vision of connection through sound.
Holoyor is now available to watch on YouTube, stream on Spotify, and experience across broadcast platforms.
Watch the official video here: https://youtu.be/GQ5KW3ZXkNE
Listen on Spotify here: Humnava on Spotify
