Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab plays sold-out show at August Hall
Gifted Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab brings her current tour to the Bay Area this weekend, playing a sold-out show at August Hall Friday night before moving to Stanford Saturday.
Born in Saudi Arabia in 1985, Aftab and her family returned to her parents native Pakistan when she was ten years old. An early interest in music led Aftab to learn to sing -- she was inspired by Indian vocalists as well as Billie Holiday and Mariah Carey -- and teach herself how to play guitar while she struggled with the limited access to Western music platforms. Despite those challenges, she promoted her music in Pakistan and became an Internet sensation when her cover of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" went viral when she was 18.
She would move to the U.S. the following year, relocating to Boston to study music production and engineering at the Berklee School of Music while continuing to develop as a writer and vocalist. After graduating, she moved to New York City where she worked as a film editor and contributed to scores, becoming part of the city's active arts, experimental jazz and new music scene.
Her 2015 debut Bird Under Water was recorded in a Brooklyn brownstone with a variety of players drawn from that musical community, exploring Aftab's unique intersection of Hindustani classical music and the sounds of modern minimalists like John Cage, Terry Riley and LaMonte Young. The atmospheric compositions and the singer's soaring melodic vocals on the self-released album mesmerized listeners and introduced Aftab to a wider audience.
For her sophomore effort Siren Islands on New Amsterdam Records in 2018, Aftab delved deeper into solo experimental electronics, layering vocals, synthesizers and guitars on four extended ambient compositions that were a world away from the traditional Pakistani instrumentation of her debut. The singer achieved even wider fame with her follow-up album Vulture Prince three years later.
A powerful meditation on loss and renewal that was colored by the death of her younger brother during the writing process, the recording found Aftab's remarkable voice supported by lush string arrangements and the most expansive instrumental backing she had employed yet. The stunning music resounded with critics and audiences alike, earning glowing write ups on Pitchfork, the New York Times, Rolling Stone and NPR, a pair of 2022 Grammy nominations (and a win for Best Global Music Performance, becoming the first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy), and inclusion of the song "Mohabbat" on one of former President Barack Obama's summer playlists. The notoriety led Aftab to be invited to perform at music festivals across the globe, appearing at Coachella, Glastonbury, Primavera Sound Barcelona, Knoxville's Big Ears Festival and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. She delivered a jaw-dropping set at last year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival that left the gathered crowd in stunned silence.
Aftab has actively explored collaborations, performing with and producing a mini album for sitar player Anoushka Shankar -- the duo performed the song "Udhero Na" at the Grammys in 2022 -- recording a tune with fellow Pakistani singer Asfar Hussain and recording the studio debut of an all-star trio with New York musicians Vijay Iyer (piano, electronics) and Shahzad Ismaily (bass, keyboards).
A creative partnership that dates back to their first live performance together in 2018, the three musicians have developed a nuanced, near telepathic level of interplay captured in the 75 minutes of music on the gorgeous, meditative album Love In Exile that was meet with universal acclaim when it was released by Verve Records two years ago. A packed concert featuring the trio at the Great American Music Hall proved the trio had no difficulty conjuring their unique magic onstage.
Last year, Aftab released her fourth effort Night Reign that included contributions from Iyer and Ismaily as well as such notables as British songwriter Elvis Costello, poet Moor Mother, guitarist Kaki King, Scottish harp player Maeve Gilchrist, jazz drummer Jamey Haddad, and bassist/composer Petros Klampanis. Arguably her most experimental effort since her earliest independent releases, the album earned the artist two more Grammy nominations as well as numerous year-ending "Best of 2024" lists. In December, she made her first nationally televised appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
While Aftab's San Francisco show at August Hall Friday is sold out, there are still tickets available for her Saturday appearance at Bing Concert Hall as part of the Stanford Live event series. Brooklyn singer-songwriter Zsela (pronounced ZHAY-la) opens both shows.
Arooj Aftab with Zsela
Friday, Jan. 24, 8 p.m. $44 (sold out)
August Hall
Saturday, Jan. 25, 7:30 p.m. $15-$73
Bing Concert Hall
