From ‘Paki Rambo’ to ‘Margalla King’

Islamabad-based singer Adil Omar speaks about his latest album

ISLAMABAD: 2016 has so far been a great year for musician Adil Omar. After performing a memorable set in his hometown of Islamabad at a concert headlined by Multi-Grammy Award winning producer Diplo, Omar went on a tour of the US, performing at the South by Southwest Music Festival and other venues in the country.

A few days back, the young rapper released his latest Extended Play (EP) titled Margalla King. The Express Tribune spoke with the trailblazer about the various tracks on the EP, the inspiration behind them, and also learnt along the way that it marks Omar’s first attempt at music production.

Omar explained that the title track Margalla King and Spiderman are a reflection of his stream of consciousness and the life he has been living for the past couple of years. On listening to the tracks, it’s clear that the former is more about Omar, while the latter is a social critique.



Meanwhile, Wedding Shells, another track off the album, is a bit more personal. “It is about my late father, who was an alcoholic and loved guns,” shared the singer. The lyrics make a number of direct references to his father’s life and early death at the age of 41. “Rapper Bun B joined me on Wedding Shells and has been a support for the past couple of years during this evolution,” he added.

Margalla King is a solo release which Omar described as “the first project which I’ve produced, rather than just written and rapped on, so this marks the ‘Adil Omar sound’ more than anything else that I’ve put out before.”

He also revealed that there is more in the pipeline from his other EP Saturday Night Killing Machine later in 2016, although he didn’t give a timeline for the release.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st,  2016.

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