Name: Adeel Sardar Khan aka Raf-Saperra
Nationality: Pakistani-British
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, percussionist
Recent release: Raf-Saperra's "Modern Mirza" is out now. His debut full-length mixtape Ruff Around Tha Edges is slated for release in January 2023.
Recommendations: "Gandasa" – short story (Urdu) by Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi. English versionn here.
Ruff Around the Edges: Debut mixtape by myself – Raf-Saperra

If you enjoyed this interview with Raf-Saperra and would like to find out more about him, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I feel my creative process in music has been built off of other creative passions drawing inspirations primarily from cinema, art, and music I’ve grown up to and growing up in London.

I formally started learning music as a percussionist. I was always heavy on rhythm and groove. I started learning drums in year 7 then I started learning the Dhol drum (Punjabi folk drum played with two sticks)

Singing to the dhol beats at Dhol class, I felt it was necessary to not aimlessly vibe to my own sounds. Skill, precision and discipline needed to be applied so I set out to find a vocal trainer.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I see music visuals that play out as a movie. It may be scenes from existing films or live-sequences from my imagination. I’m not necessarily the protagonist but there is definitely a moving sequence. There may be a cinematic set-piece building up around the verse and then a cathartic and explosive release on the drop/hook.

It’s been hard for me to explain this to people which is why all my music visuals have been directed and edited by myself.

If I can’t see / visualise a song, I don’t involve myself in the project. I may admire it from afar though.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

To be brutally honest: I haven’t given it much thought in that sense. I’m just being me. I think it’s extraordinary being ordinary.

I’m an ordinary guy,
from an ordinary Punjabi family
with ordinary friends (debatable!)
building an unordinary cult following within the South Asian diaspora within such a short space of time.

I think that’s happened due to standing up for the things I love. Whether that’s my love for classic Punjabi folk songs, 90s hip hop to trashy and low budget exploitation films – I shamelessly love them.

People have advised me in the past to lean towards things that are more ‘commercial’ but I think that’s called conforming. The challenge is to make sure you make something with mass appeal without compromising you who are as an artist or as an individual.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I’ve had the good fortune of having an eclectic upbringing around music and movies. Depending on what I’m working on, I like to marinate around certain mediums to ultimately impact what I’m creating and the mood / intensity I approach the creativity with.

If I’m working on a song, I focus mainly on melody. I like to spend time alone and playing the keys on the harmonium. Finding compositions in different raags (scales). What's the mood of the song? Depending on what the melody speaks to me I then find the right tone for the song writing.

If I’m writing a screenplay, I like to be reading, around literature, flipping through my record collection and playing music. This could be from different artists / genres or even film scores. I love the work of R.D. Burman and Ennio Morricone when writing my scenes.



What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Key idea is “Feel more, Think later”. What’s art if there’s no feel? And deliver the ‘feel’ in my own unique style. I’ve always appreciated artists and filmmakers who had their own signature touch

Brian De Palma, Stanley Kubrick, Jean Piere-Melville, Quentin Tarantino, Seijun Suzuki, Sergio Leone, George Condo, Patrick Caulfield – the list goes on! They all have their own way to dangerously deliver the goods. It’s unapologetically them.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I like the essence of both. I may flirt with tradition and nostalgia but Raf-Saperra is unapologetically contemporary.

I also feel people are so caught up with the future / trends that when someone presents something traditional it almost seems new and unexplored. I feel that’s played a big part in my development.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Learning my craft. 100%. Knowledge is key. This has been imperative in a studio environment!

Similar to how an actor is delivering for a director, I like to work in a traditional sense where I’m at the mercy of the music director. I should have enough knowledge to appreciate what the producer is asking from me and to be able to deliver that to my best ability vocally.

Steel Banglez said in an interview “it takes 10 years to become an overnight success” and that speaks to me in volumes. I may not be the best example of a music student, I don’t come from a musical family, I don’t put in as much hours as I should in practice but there is almost a decade’s worth of my life that has gone in to this. I still have a long way to go!

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

Since I’ve been working on my mixtape, my routine has been all over the place.  

A normal day would be waking up early for vocal practice, breakfast, gym and then straight to work!

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

My debut mixtape will be a reflection of my eclectic self and will be tapping into various different music genres I have been influenced by.

One of these genres include ‘Qawali’ which is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing. Unlike the usual studio environment that I’m used to with laptops / samples / digital beats. The recording process for this song from vocals to instruments was all live! I recorded this in Lahore, Pakistan and the studio environment was very traditional. How things were recorded. Music director, engineer, musicians, composer – all in there together.

I was vocalled by legendary Pakistani music song writer / composer Mujahid Hussain who has worked with some of the biggest Pakistani singers from Noor Jehan to Abida Parveen.



The Qawali song is based on a sufi saint so in between takes Mujahid Hussein would explain the history of this saint. That was memorable.

It was very important to take in the history and information to truly feel what I was singing. I’m very excited to see how this song is received.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I’m not sure about others, but for me, different stages of the process exhibit different approaches.

I feel artists (or at least a big majority) are to some degree introverted. A lot of the homework may be in solitary i.e, practicing music, working on a composition, exploring theme etc. The next stage is unavoidably collaborative: Showing the producers, songwriters, exploring the kind of sound etc.

I prefer it being a mixture of both styles. It’s good to get a few different opinions. Sometimes you can read the room and feel the energy for the project based on how excited or disgusted your team is looking!

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I am a 1st generation British-Asian whose parents migrated to UK from Pakistan in the late 80s and raised me in the 90s in South West London. Streatham. No matter where I am on the planet. That’s me. That’s in my music. That’s in my aesthetic.

My sound and visuals have proven this time and time again. From singing a UK Garage banger like “N.L.S (Nach Le Soniye)” to directing visuals for the late great Sidhu Moosewala in South London in Clapham.



This is my world. Saturated with culture within the grimy underbelly of inner city London.  

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

For me there’s a huge connection. In Indian classical music we learn raags (scales) and different raags are advised to practice according to the time of day they’re assigned to i.e.

Raag Bhairav is considered to be a morning Raag. To reap its full benefits, ustaads / gurus encourage to practice and sing this early morning.



Taals on the other hand are known as rhythmic patterns / beat cycles. This may be an 8 beat cycle (Kherwa Taal) 16 beat cycle (Teen Taal) and so on!



The art of joining the maths (taal) with the science (appropriate raag for the song) and then combining that with skilled musicians, music director and vocalist it creates magic.

And magic is neither maths or science!

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I don’t to be honest. As corny as it sounds but everything you do you gotta put love in it. Whether you trap, do a day job or cook a meal.

If your heart isn’t in it, it won’t bang. No matter how experienced you are.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I think the notion of harmony is overlooked. In a constantly changing, rapidly moving and constantly vibrating realm, the thought of certain vibrations making people susceptible to a certain melody or even beat pattern is insane.

I have no explanation but there’s your maths and science!