Transformative may not be an urgent enough word to describe the multi-hyphenate creative

Arooj Aftab. Rooted to a constellation of unmappable margins and elegant refusals, she lithely

moves against the weight of time and convention, honoring multiple traditions while being

owned by none. She eludes categorical capture through an expansive repertoire of study,

including the techniques of music production and engineering as well a sprawling vocal practice

that moves with cunning intention through and alongside jazz, South Asian classical music, pop,

and blues. With and from these living, mercurial forms Aftab labors in design of something that

she adoringly refers to as “global soul.” She is its erudite scribe and dark chanteuse, successfully

convincing audiences all over the world that genres are a lie but she should be believed.

The scale of Aftab’s musical inheritances are on brilliant display in her two most recent albums:

the Grammy-nominated “masterpiece in space” Love in Exile (Verve, 2023), co-created with

Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily, and her fourth solo project, the incandescent Night Reign

(Verve, 2024). Both are spectacles in skill and Aftab tenderly, expertly holds all of their supple

elements like priceless heirlooms. Her seeking, from Sufi poets to iconic jazz vocalists, proved to

her that “there was no blueprint for this thing I wanted to do,” and it’s for her embrace of risk

and nonconformity that Aftab earned her position at the vanguard of creative music. Since 2021,

she has delivered “rapturous performances” at major venues and international festivals such as

the Newport Jazz Festival, Coachella, Roskilde Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Glastonbury,

and twice on NPR’s Tiny Desk series; received critical praise from The New York Times,

Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Time Magazine; and been awarded a Grammy for “Mohabbat” in

the Best Global Music Performance category and a Best New Artist nomination for her standout

third album, Vulture Prince (Verve/New Amsterdam, 2021), two nominations for Love in Exile,

as well as her selection as a 2023 United States Artists Fellow and recipient of the Vilcek Prize

for Creative Promise in Music.

Before and beyond Aftab’s many accolades is the instrument itself, her craveable voice, which

she describes as an alchemy of “displacement, reinvention, exile, chaos, feminism and the

maddening fabric of love and loss and tragedy in the world.” The calm in her vocal delivery is

not comfort or consent but a persistent and expectant intensity that sears the text to countless

lifetimes in as many lands. Herself the subject of various migrations, Aftab spent her adolescent

years in Lahore, Pakistan, a garden-dense city and the birthplace of her music-loving parents.

Her viral cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at age eighteen aided in her passage to study

jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston, while Brooklyn, New York would be her next and

most fertile workshop for creation of her “world-building” music. Night Reign is both a vivid

reflection of and future for that music held by the trace figurations of the city. There Aftab works

with some of the most stunning musicians of our time, raising diverse concentric circles of

collaboration that reflect back to her a cosmic level of musical craft and invention.

Aftab enchants with her passionate attention to the everyday and ability to indelibly shape its

stratospheric poesis. She dares to express affection from the stage, a profoundly musical

achievement that models not only how to do so but why. Emboldened by her fearlessness and

exquisite imagination, others gather and play, proving that she’s exactly who and where she is

meant to be. “For once, I’m not fighting,” she says with signature candor. “I’ve already won.”

Shana L. Redmond

New York City

January 5, 2024

Posted by DICE

Arooj Aftab

Super! présente

Arooj Aftab en concert exceptionnel au Trianon le 25 octobre 2024 !

"La nuit, avoue Arooj Aftab, est ma plus grande source d'inspiration. Par essai ou par intuition, elle a compris que ces moments immobiles de la couverture permettent de manière unique la guérison, le désir, l'abri, l'amour autant d'éléments essentiels de la vie et de l'existence, de la relation intime à l'autre. Peut-être parce que son obscurité lève les inhibitions ou invite à de nouvelles façons d'être, incitant chacun à quitter le jour aussi honnêtement qu'il l'a entamé, la nuit accueille le jeu et la recherche. Il en va de même pour la voix d'Aftab, dont la portée et l'intensité complètent le départ du soleil.

Night Reign (Verve, 2024) est un jardin public parfumé de renouveau, qui éveille les sens à chaque composition, à chaque tour de phrase, à chaque modulation. S'éloignant, sans jamais l'oublier, du chagrin et de la perte qui ont animé son album Vulture Prince (Verve/New Amsterdam, 2021), récompensé par un Grammy Award, Aftab apparaît ici avec une musique originale et sous une autre forme : en tant que barde des possibilités quotidiennes, de la quiétude et de la romance qui change la vie.

Il est tout à fait approprié qu'elle commence Night Reign par un traité sur l'arrivée ("Aey Nehin"), qui pose la question de savoir quand un amour apparaîtra et ce qui les a retenus si longtemps. Dans et à partir de ce moment d'anticipation inquiète, Aftab joue le rôle de guide dans l'ombre des rêves sombres et des fantasmes lascifs, des fleurs provocantes et des scribes royaux. Certaines de ses nuits sont balayées par la pluie et propres, ouvrant organiquement des chemins vers la clarté ; d'autres ont une faible visibilité et demandent aux auditeurs de suivre sa voix afin de stabiliser leur pied et leur cœur. Dans ce monde, qui sait ce que nous allons rencontrer ou ce à quoi on va nous demander de survivre.

Cet événement est réservé aux personnes de plus de 16 ans.

Super!

Arooj Aftab - Aey Na Balam

Gigs

Paris

Le Trianon

IMPORTANTE: Si sigues adelante con la compra aceptas expresamente las condiciones generales de Primavera Sound / IMPORTANT: If you go ahead with your reservation, you expressly accept the general conditions for Primavera Sound: https://www.primaverasound.com/tours/terminos-y-condiciones-conciertos

Es una lástima que Peter Gabriel describiera la voz de Youssou N’Dour como “plata líquida”, porque eso quiere decir que la mejor metáfora para explicar el canto de Arooj Aftab ya está usada. Y precisamente ella es una artista a la que no le gusta repetir nada. Reinterpretar, reimaginar, resignificar: eso sí que le gusta a la cantante y compositora pakistaní. Ya sea como cantante o como compositora de bandas sonoras (con Emmys y Oscars en su haber), como admiradora de Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan y Abida Parveen o como fan de Jeff Buckley y Prince, como revolucionaria de la música Qawwali o los gazals o como importadora de vanguardias de la contemporánea, la clásica o el jazz, Aftab solo contempla hacer en su carrera lo que todavía nadie haya hecho antes.

Tras conquistar el Grammy en la categoría de Best Global Music Performance por Vulture Prince y alinearse con el pianista Vijay Iyer y el multiinstrumentista Shahzad Ismaily en Love in Exile, dos discos que definen un nuevo canon de belleza musical, Arooj Aftab actuará el 29 de octubre en la sala Apolo de Barcelona (como parte del ciclo Caprichos de Apolo) y el 30 de octubre en la Sala Villanos de Madrid (como parte del ciclo Villanos del Jazz de Jazzmadrid).

Los menores de 16 años pueden acceder acompañados de padre/madre/tutor legal

Primavera Sound S. L.

Primavera GA4

Barcelona

SALA APOLO

Madrid

Sala Villanos

Arooj Aftab @ Project House

https://projecthouselds.com/info/

This is a 14+ event. 

PROJECT HOUSE

Start Again

Keeley Forsyth - Debris

Keeley Forsyth

Leeds

Returning with its biggest and boldest line-up yet, 2024 is set to be another record sell-out for Mutations Festival!

ALL WEEK TICKET allows entry to all five nights of Mutations Festival 2024 - Tuesday 5th / Wednesday 6th / Thursday 7th / Friday 8th / Saturday 9th November 2024

Performing:

**Tuesday 5th November**

SPRINTS ⬣ COACH PARTY ⬣ DOG RACE ⬣ KYNSY ⬣ SHELF LIVES ⬣ LAMBRINI GIRLS (DJ)

\*\*\* this line-up is curated by Sprints \*\*\*

**Wednesday 6th November**

AROOJ AFTAB ⬣ ALABASTER DEPLUME ⬣ SHEHERAZAAD ⬣ JUNE MCDOOM ⬣ ZSELA

**Thursday 7th November**

CASISDEAD ⬣ GROVE ⬣ NOVELIST ⬣ ELIJAH & JAMMZ ⬣ OSCAR #WORLDPEACE

**Friday 8th November**

WARMDUSCHER ⬣ LIME GARDEN ⬣ SNAPPED ANKLES ⬣ STRFKR ⬣ THE ORIELLES ⬣ UGLY ⬣ WILLIE J HEALEY

ABBY SAGE ⬣ ADULT DVD ⬣ BABA ALI ⬣ BABEHOVEN ⬣ BLOOMSDAY ⬣ ELLIS-D ⬣ FLOODLIGHTS ⬣ FOLLY GROUP ⬣ FONT ⬣ FRIKO ⬣ GOOD LOOKS ⬣ HONESTY ⬣ HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE ⬣ NIC CAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ⬣ NYSSA ⬣ SILVERBACKS ⬣ SLOW FICTION ⬣ THE LOUNGE SOCIETY ⬣ VOYEUR ⬣ WHITELAND ⬣ WISHY

**Saturday 9th November**

KNEECAP ⬣ BC CAMPLIGHT ⬣ HAMISH HAWK ⬣ JANE WEAVER (SOLO) ⬣ MERCURY REV ⬣ OCTOBER DRIFT ⬣ THE CHISEL ⬣ VLURE

ARMLOCK ⬣ BASHT. ⬣ CHANEL BEADS ⬣ CARDINALS ⬣ CIRCE ⬣ DEARY ⬣ DELIVERY ⬣ DISGUSTING SISTERS ⬣ DORA ⬣ ENOLA GAY ⬣ FLAT PARTY ⬣ FREAK SLUG ⬣ HEARTWORMS ⬣ HEX GIRLFRIEND ⬣ HOTWAX ⬣ HUMAN INTEREST ⬣ IDEAL LIVING ⬣ JOPY ⬣ KAMRAN KAUR ⬣ KEG ⬣ LICE ⬣ LUXJURY ⬣ MAN/WOMAN/CHAINSAW ⬣ MARSY ⬣ MOULD ⬣ OUR GIRL ⬣ OWNERS CLUB ⬣ PLANTOID ⬣ QUADE ⬣ REALLY GOOD TIME ⬣ REDOLENT ⬣ SCOTT LAVENE ⬣ SHE’S IN PARTIES ⬣ SLOE NOON ⬣ SOAPBOX ⬣ SPIELMANN ⬣ THE NEW EVES ⬣ THE NONE ⬣ THE PILL ⬣ VAN HOUTEN ⬣ VAN ZON ⬣ YARD ⬣ YHWH NAILGUN

Grassroots Music Venues Being used by Mutations Festival 2024 include:

Chalk / Patterns / Revenge / Dust / The Hope and Ruin / The Prince Albert / Green Door Store / Folklore Rooms / Alphabet

Day Tickets and Weekend Tickets are also available here: https://link.dice.fm/Mutations-Festival-2024

*\*Line-up subject to change*

*\*\* Venue capacities are based on first come first served*

This is an 18+ event.

FORM Presents

ALL WEEK PASS: MUTATIONS FESTIVAL 2024

Midnight Dipper - Soulwax Remix

Warmduscher

KNEECAP

BC Camplight

SPRINTS

Brighton

Various venues Brighton

**WEDNESDAY 6TH NOVEMBER**

Performing:

AROOJ AFTAB ⬣ ALABASTER DEPLUME ⬣ SHEHERAZAAD ⬣ JUNE MCDOOM ⬣ ZSELA ⬣ RESIDENT MUSIC (DJ)

This event is part of Mutations Festival 2024

Weekend Tickets and other day tickets are available here: https://link.dice.fm/Mutations-Festival-2024

CHALK

AROOJ AFTAB + MORE - WEDNESDAY AT MUTATIONS 2024

Alabaster dePlume

Sheherazaad

June McDoom

Zsela

CHALK 

AROOJ AFTAB

+Keeley Forsyth

+Yasmin Williams

+Rachael Lavelle

\+ Sheherazaad

\+ Zsela

“The night,” Arooj Aftab confesses, “is my biggest source of inspiration.” By trial or intuition she’s come to understand that these still moments of cover uniquely enable healing, desire, shelter, love—each essential elements of life and living, of intimate relation to one another. Perhaps because its darkness loosens inhibitions or invites new ways of being, enticing all to leave the day as honestly as they entered it, night welcomes play and searching. So too does Aftab’s voice, its reach and intensity complimenting the sun’s departure.

Night Reign (Verve, 2024) is a perfumed, public garden of renewal, peaking the senses with each composition, each turn of phrase, each modulation. Stepping away from, though never forgetting, the grief and loss that animated her Grammy Award-winning album Vulture Prince (Verve/New Amsterdam, 2021), Aftab appears here with original music and in yet another form: as bard of everyday possibility, quietude, and life-altering romance.

Pitchfork Festival London is part of Bershka Music, in collaboration with DICE.

The ticket price includes a £2 venue restoration levy.

Arooj Aftab

About Arooj Aftab

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