'Sway' turns Hunza classroom into celebration of childhood joy

Track released by Pakistan-based 'Humnava' was recorded at regional institution

A small mountain school in Hunza has become the backdrop for Humnava's latest musical release. Sway a song that trades spectacle for something softer: the forgotten freedom of childhood.

The track. released on Wednesday by Pakistan-based global music platform Humnava, was recorded at the Nasir-e-Khisrow Model Academy in Ghulkin, Gojal, surrounded by the rugged mountains of Hunza. Rather than leaning on heavy themes or grand storytelling, Sway focuses on fleeting moments of joy, movement, and innocence.

Built around playful rhythms and layered global instrumentation, the song brings together musicians from Pakistan, Zambia, France, Algeria, and Germany. Zambian vocalists Elijah Bwalya. Joshua Bwalya lead the track, while French musician Peter John Christopher adds saxophone and backing vocals. Traditional sounds from rabab. Chitrali sitar blend with acoustic and electric guitars, synths, and percussion to create a sound that feels both rooted and borderless.

Curated by Pakistani musicians Xulfi. Sherry Khattak, the song continues Humnava's larger experiment of using music as a meeting point for cultures, languages, and lived experiences.

"For me, Sway carries a very pure kind of happiness," said Xulfi while speaking about the release. "It takes me back to that part of life where we were not performing joy, we were just living it."

He described the atmosphere in Ghulkin as central to the making of the song, saying the energy of the children. the openness of the landscape shaped its emotional tone.

The accompanying music video, directed by Soheb Akhtar, leans heavily into that mood. Set within the mountain school. its surrounding valleys, the visuals avoid polished glamour in favour of candid movement, laughter, and communal warmth. Children running through corridors, musicians performing among classrooms,. sweeping shots of Hunza's landscape all reinforce the song's central idea: joy as something instinctive rather than manufactured.

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