Arooj AftabPP (Urdu:عروج آفتاب; born March 11, 1985) is a Pakistani singer, composer, and producer. She has worked in various musical styles and idioms, includingjazz andminimalism.
Aftab was born to Pakistani parents expatriated inSaudi Arabia. When she was about 10 years old, they returned to their nativeLahore in Pakistan.[3] She taught herself theguitar and gradually acquired her singing style while listening toBillie Holiday,Hariprasad Chaurasia,Mariah Carey, andBegum Akhtar. At that time, Aftab lived in a country where access toWestern online platforms was difficult, and the infrastructure forindependent music was lacking. In this context, however, she promoted her music in Pakistan, being one of the first musicians to use the Internet in the early 2000s; her renditions of "Mera Pyaar" and "Hallelujah" went viral and launched the Pakistani indie scene.[4]
Aftab moved to the United States at the age of 19 in 2005[3] and earned a degree in music production and engineering atBoston'sBerklee College of Music.[5] She moved to New York in 2010 and began working as an editor andscoring films.[4] Since her graduation in 2010,[6] Aftab has lived there, being part of the city's jazz and "new music" scene.[3][7]
In April 2011, Aftab was included in the "100 Composers Under 40" selection launched byNPR andWQXR-FM's Q2 (a contemporary classical music internet radio station).[8]
Aftab's first album,Bird Under Water, was released independently in 2014. It received critical acclaim from David Honigmann of theFinancial Times, who gave the album four out of five stars in March 2015.[9][10]
She worked as an editor on the documentaryArmed With Faith (2017),[4] winning a 2018Emmy Award afterward.[11]
Her second album,Siren Islands, was released on June 12, 2018, throughNew Amsterdam Records. NPR included the album in their "Favorite Electronic and Dance Music of 2018" list.[12]The New York Times listed the song "Island No. 2", which represented the album, in their "25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018" list.[13] In mid-July 2018, the song "Lullaby", taken fromBird Under Water, was ranked number 150 on the NPR's "200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women" list.[14]
An anticipated release, Aftab's third studio album,Vulture Prince, was released on April 23, 2021, via New Amsterdam Records.[18] Thematically, the album discusses stories of people, relationships, and lost moments and is dedicated to the memory of her younger brother, Maher.[19]Vulture Prince received praise from publications such asPitchfork,[20] NPR,[21] and theAl Jazeera English-language news channel.[22]Barack Obama selected the song "Mohabbat" from this album as one of hissummer playlist favorites for 2021.[23] "Mohabbat" was called one of the best songs of 2021 byTime andThe New York Times.[24][25]Vulture Prince was named the best album of 2021 byNetherlands newspaperde Volkskrant, topping their year-end list.[26] Brenna Ehrlich ranked the album sixth onRolling Stone's "Best Music of 2021" staff list.[27] It was ranked number twenty byThe Guardian on their list of the "50 best albums of 2021", and Laura Snapes named Aftab "[t]he year's biggest musical revelation".[28] WhileVulture Prince did not rank on theLos Angeles Times' top ten "Best Albums of 2021", it was, however, included on their "15 deserving albums" list.[29] In late 2021, Aftab signed withVerve Records.[5]
Aftab won aGrammy in 2022 for her song "Mohabbat". In 2023 she became the firstPakistani artist to perform at theGrammys ceremony.[30]
Aftab has a tremendous love for animals. In 2023 she paired with Pakistani animal rights organization, the Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation to raise funds for their continued animal rescue efforts in Karachi.[54]
Aftab raises her voice for gender equality in the music industry. In 2022 she spoke at Global Citizens' Women of Influence panel on The Power of Gender in Shaping Culture alongside Gayle King, Pharrell Williams and Gloria Steinem.[55]
In 2024 Aftab once again joined the Global Citizen action platform dedicated to achieving the end of extreme poverty, performing her song "Diya Hai" from her 2022 albumVulture Prince.[56]
^Kalia, Ammar (March 25, 2022)."'My music is singular to me': Arooj Aftab, the brightest new star at this year's Grammys".The Guardian. RetrievedJuly 7, 2023.Informed by Urdu verse, mythological vultures and her brother's death, the US-Pakistani musician's latest album is unexpectedly up for one of the 'big four' prizes... The Pakistani-American singer and composer is speaking from her Brooklyn apartment, six weeks after her third album, Vulture Prince, won her two Grammy nominations.
^Tommasini, Anthony; Barone, Joshua; Fonseca-Wollheim, Corinna da; Allen, David; Walls, Seth Colter; Woolfe, Zachary (December 13, 2018)."The 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018".The New York Times. RetrievedApril 25, 2021.
