Arooj Aftab
- Main StageSunday 9•July•2023
18:15•19:15TICKETS FROM 55 EUROS
- Main StageMonday 10•July•2023
19:45•20:45TICKETS FROM 55 EUROS
2021 was Arooj Aftab’s year - that’s how the world saw it. It was the year in which the Pakistani musician made it big with the release of 'Vulture Prince’, her third album, written as a tribute to her deceased younger brother. It is a - quite literally - breathtaking bereavement journey from sadness to acceptance, with the odd glimmer of hope. Reviewers kept on throwing superlatives around to allow them to claim that they had been the first to sing Aftab’s high praises. The album popped up in a lot of end-of-year lists and she won the Grammy for Best Global Music Performance. It was always Aftab herself who continued to believe in her own strengths and continued to follow her dreams - which is no mean feat if you are a female Pakistani musician.
Growing up in Pakistan, Aftab taught herself how to play guitar and found her own voice by listening to Billie Holiday, Mariah Carey and Indian musicians such as Hariprasad Chaurasia and Begum Akhtar. All of which laid the foundation for her unique mix of styles where jazz, electronic, classical, indie, minimalism as well as neo-Sufi and Hindustani music are heard to fuse. Given the limited access to Western internet sources in Pakistan, Aftab struggled to break through. In 2005, the then 19-year-old moved to the United States to enrol at the renowned Berklee College of Music. Once in America, she immediately stood out because of her meditative singing style and minimalist compositions. In addition to her own work, she also took up writing film scores. Yet everything ultimately led to the release of 'Vulture Prince’ and the wholly justified confirmation she received for that album. Undoubtedly poignant, definitely one you cannot afford to miss!
