LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — Two of the biggest names in dance music have turned to Pakistani hits. Alan Walker is in Lahore working with the singers of “Alfaaz”, and Fred again.., the Grammy-winning British producer, has been playing his own edit of Afusic and Ali Soomro’s “Pal Pal”.
Fred again.. first played the “Pal Pal” edit in late July, during a livestream with the Mexican band Latin Mafia, using the version the Pakistani duo recorded with the Indian singer-songwriter Talwiinder. It has not been officially released, and clips from the stream circulate online labelled as unreleased.
“Seeing Fred put his own spin on the track made me realise how small the world really is. It’s funny how things come full circle,” Soomro wrote at the time. “Before Pal Pal, we had never earned a penny from our music,” he said, describing how he and Afusic, whose real name is Affan Khan, made the song “after our jobs, after birthdays, after whatever life threw at us”.
Released in 2025, “Pal Pal” was named by Spotify Pakistan as the country’s second most-streamed song, and put Afusic and Soomro eighth and ninth among Pakistan’s most-streamed artists.
And now Alfaaz: Walker’s interest began when he spotted a masked figure in his own style in the video for “Alfaaz”, by Hamza Malik and the brothers Zain Ali and Zohaib Ali. “Why is there a Walker in the video. Beautiful video btw,” he wrote. Days later he was filming outside Lahore Fort and posting from the studio with the singers. “Alfaaz”, released on July 25, has reached Spotify’s Top 50 Global chart. No joint release has been announced.
For young Pakistani musicians, attention from producers with audiences of millions can carry a song to listeners who would never otherwise find it. Both songs started the same way: made by independent artists, then spread by streaming and social media before the stars came calling.
