The Story Behind Sab Maya Hai
Sab Maya Hai brought Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi, the Seraiki folk giant from Isakhel in Mianwali, to the Coke Studio stage in Season 10, sharing the microphone with his son Sanwal Esakhelvi. Aired in Episode 5 of the 2017 season, the song pairs a composition Attaullah first wrote himself with an arrangement directed by Shuja Haider and produced by the Strings duo of Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia. Built on verses by Ibn-e-Insha, Shakir Shuja Abadi and others, it sets Attaullah's weathered, unmistakably folk voice against Sanwal's brighter tone. A banjo and flute thread through groovy backing vocals, turning a meditation on worldly illusion into one of the season's most rooted, soil-deep performances.
Meaning & Translation
The title translates as everything is illusion. Maya is a word shared across Seraiki, Punjabi and Urdu, rooted in older South Asian thought, for the deceptive glitter of the material world, the wealth, status and desire that promise permanence and deliver none. Across its verses the song holds worldly attachment up to the light and finds it hollow, even love appearing as something at once binding and false. Attaullah and Sanwal do not preach so much as lament, letting the folk melody carry the ache of a man who has seen through the illusion yet still feels its pull. It is a reminder, sung from the soil, that most of what we chase will fade.
Details
- Artist
- Attaullah Esakhelvi, Sanwal Esakhelvi
- Category
- Coke Studio
- Collection
- Coke Studio Season 10
- Released
- 2017
- Genre
- Folk
- Mood
- Melancholy
- YouTube Views
- 31.60M
Artists & Credits
- Attaullah Esakhelvi singer
- Sanwal Esakhelvi singer
- Attaullah Esakhelvi composer
- Shuja Haider composer
- Ibn-e-Insha lyricist
- Shakir Shuja Abadi lyricist
- Mazhar Niazi lyricist
- Farooq Rokhri lyricist
- Shuja Haider lyricist
- Amir Azhar musician
- Sajid Ali musician
- Nadeem Iqbal musician
- Strings producer