Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab, a singer, composer, and producer from Pakistan, weaves neo-Sufi traditions together with classical minimalism, jazz, electronic textures, and an eclectic array of additional influences. During her teenage years in the early 2000s she contributed meaningfully to the growth of her nation’s independent music community before relocating to New York City, where film scoring occupied much of her time toward the close of that decade. Her 2010s performances mirrored this wide stylistic range, appearing at prominent spaces such as New York’s Lincoln Center and Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt as well as intimate jazz and indie-rock venues. The artists with whom she collaborates prove equally varied, among them Esperanza Spalding, DJ /rupture, and Vijay Iyer. Critical recognition greeted her initial pair of releases, Bird Under Water in 2014 and Siren Islands in 2018; in 2022 the track “Mohabbat” from her third album, Vulture Prince, earned Aftab the Grammy Award for Best Global Music Performance, marking the first time a Pakistani artist had received that honor. Following the 2023 collaborative set Love in Exile with Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily, she issued the shifting concept album Night Reign in 2024.

Born in Saudi Arabia to émigré parents, Aftab returned with her family to Lahore, Pakistan, at age ten, where her musical curiosity began to take shape. Largely self-taught on voice and guitar, she absorbed western pop and jazz figures such as Jeff Buckley, Billie Holiday, and Mariah Carey alongside Pakistani and North Indian classical forms. Limited access to western online platforms did not prevent her from leveraging digital skills to achieve early viral traction within Pakistan’s emerging indie scene.

She arrived in the United States in 2005 to pursue studies combining music production, engineering, and jazz composition at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Upon completion of her degree, Aftab settled in New York and immersed herself in the local jazz and new-music communities while also editing and scoring films.

By the start of the following decade, her singular fusion of Sufi poetry, South Asian classical lineages, electronic music, and jazz drew notice from outlets including NPR and The New York Times. Bird Under Water appeared as a self-released effort in 2015; she then joined the avant-garde imprint New Amsterdam Records, which put out Siren Islands in 2018. Film work continued between these projects, encompassing vocal and compositional contributions to Pakistani cinema soundtracks and an Emmy Award for editing the 2017 documentary Armed with Faith. She additionally supplied music and sound design for the video game Backbone by Eggnut Games.

Vulture Prince, issued in 2021, marked her most visible release to date, attracting broad praise and topping numerous year-end lists. Its standout track “Mohabbat” received further attention after a playlist placement from Barack Obama and ultimately claimed the 2022 Grammy for Best Global Music Performance. A deluxe edition on Verve later added the Anoushka Shankar collaboration “Udhero Na.” Love in Exile, a collection of extended chamber-jazz pieces created with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily, surfaced in 2023. Aftab next delivered the solo album Night Reign in May 2024, a richly layered conceptual work examining nighttime themes from desire and romance to shelter and renewal; guests on the record included Cautious Clay, Chocolate Genius Inc., Kaki King, and Moor Mother.