Karan Khan has been plying his trade since 2009, and has earned his big break by singing not only the veteran poets like Rahman Baba, Khushal Khan khattak and Sahib Shah Sabir but has also given verve to modern day poets like Israr Atal, Usman Ali Usman, Iqbal Shakir, Amin Tanha and Pir Mohammad Karwan. The most outstanding achievement of Karan is also the introduction of new genre of poetry into the music such as Qawali, Tappaezy, Takorezy and Taskeney which has flavoured the Pashto music with a new taste. Along with his prominence and fame as a singer, Karan is also known as a talented Compare and Producer of television, radio and stage as he has undertaken different assignments on almost all the T.V and F.M. radio stations of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Afghanistan. Like a wild flower, which sprouts from the virgin soil and blossoms to full ambience untended, he has became one of the most sought after Pashto singer in the recent years.
Born in April 1980 at Tendo-dag, Ballogram Village of District Swat, Karan passed his matric examination form his village school and completed his graduation from University of Malakand and did his Masters in Pashto Literature. Though currently entertaining his fans with his melodious voice, Karan is still in the learning process as he has undertaken his Ph.D. on the Pashto Literature at the Department of Pashto, University of Peshawar.
From the very beginning, Karan had developed a flavour for music. He had a natural flair for singing as he would used to take part in Singing, Naat and Qirat competitions during his school time. He used to play different musical instruments stealthily at that time as it was difficult for him to play these instruments openly due to the religious commitments of his family.
At university level, when Karan was away from his family’s customs, norms and values, he started giving full intention to this art. As a first step he started attending music lessons from A.R Anwar Ustad (Sargam Guide Musical Academy), & Sher Jan Ustad in Swat and learnt playing different musical instruments like Guitar, Rabab, Sitar and Harmonium etc. But the break through occurred in his life when Karan came to Peshawar for his Masters Degree and joined PACT Radio where he got acquaintance with Mohammad Israr Atal, a young and promising poet of the modern days. At PACT Radio, Atal provided Karan a plate-form to nurture his singing career as he had a chance to meet the other well known singers and musicians.
The major feature, which became the hallmark of his singing, was the selection of poetry for his songs. Karan has always given due consideration to the poetry for his compositions and has tried to avoid meaningless poetry, unlike many current singers. Having inclination towards literature, he selected genre like romanticism and mysticism and that too were presented in an innovative style that is why these trends were acknowledged by the masses immediately. They started listening to him, not only for his melodious voice but also for his selection of the evocative poetry. Karan had always focused on the content of poetry along with music, as he believed that quality poetry is a must for quality music. It is this attribute that has made his singing popular in the masses in a very short span. From the very beginning, Karan had an inclination towards mysticism and romanticism that is why when he read the poetry of Israr Atal, he found so many shades in his poetry– ranging from peace, love, freedom, nationalism, skepticism, aestheticism, love of God, land, and people, the mysteries of life and death, the joys of communion, and the woes of separation to beauty. This made Karan to sing Atal’s poetry in the beginning which developed a strong bond between the two just like the bond which existed between Ghani Khan (poet) and Sardar Ali Takkar (singer).
Karan though sang different types of poetry such as Ghazal, Azad Nazam, Tappey and