This is the greatest song to have gone viral on desi social media in a long time. The beloved folk artist known as Arif Lohar is experiencing a comeback of sorts, in popularity.

His last major release was Alif Allah/Jugni, in which he collaborated with Meesha Shafi for the third season of Coke Studio, in 2010. It’s an instantly recognisable and beloved number in South Asia and the South Asian diaspora abroad.

Arif Lohar was born into music — his father, Alam Lohar, was originally the artist who performed with the signature Lohar chimta on Radio Pakistan and PTV, and carved a name for himself in the folk music industry. His son, Arif Lohar, took his family’s tradition and spread it beyond Pakistan’s borders.

And now, for the past couple of years, videos have been circulating showing how he’s grooming his three young sons to continue the Lohar family’s musical legacy. And all three boys not only have a good sense of rhythm, they also embody the joy exhibited by their father every time he performs. There are videos of them performing cute covers of their father’s hits at events with him.

Arif Lohar’s latest release is a Punjabi folk-rap-pop number called Aa [Come], released in collaboration with Roach Killa and Deep Jandu. The artist known as Roach Killa is an award-winning Canadian-Punjabi rapper born in Sabha, Libya, to Pakistani parents who migrated to Canada while he was still young. He makes cultural references to Lahore in his section of the song. Deep Jandu is a Punjabi record-producer and rapper who also hails from Canada.

Arif Lohar’s latest collaboration in the viral song, Aa, is a celebration of the joy with which the chimta-swinging singer embraces, performs and shares music

Aa is a feel-good electronic dance number that mashes traditional rhythm and bass instrumentation with Punjabi beats. It has overly simplistic lyrics anyone can understand. The main chorus, sung by Arif Lohar, goes:

Aa, tenu mauj karawaan

[Come, I’ll make you have fun]

Aa, tenu sair karawaan

[Come, I’ll take you around]

Aa, teray sadqay javaan

[Come, I sacrifice myself for you]

At the time of writing this, the video for Aa had already garnered 50 million views (it was at 45 million one day prior) and was the #19 global top music video on YouTube. This song, as in desi-English street slang, is just “total entertainment.” That is the objective. The artists aren’t trying to make a statement, other than to simply ask you not to take yourself too seriously and to just go out and have fun.

Aa embodies this larger-than-life celebration-of-life Punjabi spirit that you do see in the province on any occasion. Go out, dress well, hang out, have great food and have fun. It’s the perfect song to come out during the annual winter shaadi season, and has been used on thousands of TikTok and Instagram video reels — what better marketing strategy is there — getting enough of a play online to guarantee its success before Ramazan kicks in and all new music releases are forced to go underground for a month.

What’s really got people hooked is Lohar’s powerhouse vocals, delivering an extended Aaaaa in the song. It’s fun and it’s peak Lohar, just spreading the joy of music and living life to its fullest. Published in Dawn, ICON, February 18th, 2024