‘It’s about being loudly visible’: Ahadadream, the British-Pakistani dance star defanging racist slurs

Like many south Asians in the UK, he kept creativity separate from a corporate career.

But after co-signs from dance music’s A-list, he’s releasing a defiant – and daringly titled – debut album When Ahad Elley was 12, his family moved from Karachi to the UK.

Quickly, he discovered his Pakistani identity was the basis of a slur. “Growing up in Pakistan, I never knew that was a bad word, because why would it be?

The word ‘pak’ means clean, it has no negative connotations. ” Elley’s childhood response was to disconnect from his heritage, and what followed was “potentially shrinking or hiding parts of myself to fit into society”.

It’s likely a familiar story for many diasporic south Asians who, at some point, have felt the call to assimilate.

Twenty years later, Elley is better known as Ahadadream, an integral architect of the current British south Asian music scene, as well as a DJ, producer, label head, A&R and promoter shining a light on dance music from around the world.

His tracks are favourites in sets by A-list dance artists such as Fred Again, Caribou, Peggy Gou and Four Tet, and with the release of his debut album, P★KI (pronounced “pee-star-kay-eye”) Elley’s star is set to rise further.

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