Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab teams with jazz talents at Great American Music Hall
SAN FRANCISCO -- Gifted Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab brings her new collaborative trio with fellow NYC musicians Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily to the Great American Music Hall Thursday night.
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 forthcoming mini album for sitar player Anoushka Shankar -- the duo performed the song "Udhero Na" at the Grammys last year -- 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).
Both musicians have established themselves as successful musicians in their own right. Iyer, a Yale graduate who continued to play music in the Bay Area while initially pursuing a doctorate in physics at UC Berkeley (he eventually completed an interdisciplinary Ph.D. degree program in technology and the arts), has recorded a slew of jazz albums as a leader for a variety of labels -- most recently a string of recordings for ECM -- in addition to recording contemporary classical music. Iyer returned to the Bay Area in 2016, spending several years as an SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director. Ismaily's versatility as a bassist, keyboard player and percussionist (often playing two instruments at once) has led to work with Bob Dylan, Yoko Ono and Laurie Anderson as well as a place in guitar great Marc Ribot's experimental rock trio Ceramic Dog.
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 has been meet with universal acclaim. This performance Thursday night at the Great American Music Hall marks the trio's Bay Area debut.
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily
Thursday, Sept. 21, 8 p.m. $43-$50
Great American Music Hall