Dynoman, or Haamid Rahim, is a Pakistani DJ based in Karachi. Ever since the 1980s when Zia ul-Haq transformed Pakistan with his “Islamization,” a “scene” for nightlife has been virtually non-existent. While the appeal of electronic music slowly creeps its way across the globe, artists like Dynoman are out to build an underground culture from scratch. His work sounds like an epic transposition of traditional local tunes and melodies onto some dope beats. Himself and his collaborators for the record label Forever South are adding Pakistan to the minimal map.
GRAPHITE: What inspired you to pursue a career in music?
DynoMan: In terms of musical inspirations, John Frusciante got me into making and composing music. I started out playing guitar in the ninth grade; I always looked up to him, but as time progressed so did my abilities and tastes. I began producing in college and have been ever since. I decided to pursue a career in music, because it felt right. We only get the chance to do what we truly want once, so I decided to make the most of it.
Why Dynoman?
I started Dynoman, because the band I had been a part of disbanded on mutual terms. Dynoman was my solo project where I was able to just make whatever I had running through my head into a tune. The name is a stupid story really haha. A friend of my younger brother once said I looked like a dinosaur, so it stuck. The Y in Dynoman was more of a practical thing, so people wouldn’t pronounce it as Deenoman.
Pakistani cultural undertones are present in your work. What’s the process of finding and compiling material?
My music making process is kind of weird. Melodies, sounds, and the instruments I use come to me at random times of the day. I’ll just be sitting somewhere and all of a sudden, I’ll realize that a certain instrument would go well with a track of mine. I’d add a note on my phone and get back to my production desk and test it out. I have a few samples I keep chopping up and tweaking around to give me different tones and sounds to add to my current tracks.
Tell us about your label, Forever South.
Forever South is the brainchild of Bilal Nasir Khan who produces as Rudoh, and is a part of the duo Treehouse and myself. We both co-own the label and are very happy with the way things have progressed. Bilal and I were just talking sometime last June and decided to give it a go. It’s come a long way and our team of artists is amazing. Without them we probably wouldn’t be where we are today. The aims and goals are to keep releasing solid tracks and putting up great nights and events. We had a successful show on the fifth of January and are currently working towards another show, which will be in April. We have more planned for the year and have a lot of releases on the way in terms of EPs and maybe even a full-length.
How do you go about finding venues in Pakistan?
It’s really hard to deal with to be honest. We can’t really showcase our music or create a culture to our music as easily as it would be if we had an avenue to perform, so people could come check us out. The only avenue we really have is our Soundcloud. People can mainly check our recorded productions and give us feedback on our tunes. Hopefully with Forever South, it will expose us to more people and they’ll have a good time.
Do you have ideas on how to give yourselves a greater presence on the nightlife scene in Pakistan?
Yup. More FXS shows and other collaborations with people here.
What message does your music send, if any?
Naubahar is about new beginnings and is my reflection of starting a new beginning in my life. I guess the message would be that everyone should just do what they want while they can, and try it out to the best of their ability.
