Hey Daata

The Story Behind Hey Daata

Hey Daata is Shafqat Amanat Ali's lockdown prayer, released on 24 April 2020 with a video bringing together friends, family and fans from around the world. Its melody comes from a prayer originally composed and sung by his father, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, during a drought in the late 1960s.

The new recording was made remotely, with Shafqat singing in Lahore and an engineer recording in Karachi. The musical centre is his solo vocal, while the video makes room for a wider community joining in prayer. Humayun Saeed, Adnan Siddiqui, Waseem Badami and Ahsan Khan appear among its participants. Recreated to offer hope during the pandemic, the release carries a family composition into another moment of shared uncertainty, connecting an earlier appeal for rain with a new invitation to pray together.

Meaning & Translation

Hey Daata means "O Giver", calling on the divine as the source of care and sustenance. Dua means prayer or supplication, so the upload's fuller title identifies an appeal for help and hope. The artist presents this version as a communal prayer during the pandemic: one voice gathers people facing the same uncertainty, even while they are physically apart. Its emotional focus is the wish for relief shared across households and borders. Understood through that framing, the address to the Giver turns vulnerability into solidarity, asking listeners to hold on to hope together.