Arooj Aftab is a Brooklyn-based Pakistani singer and music composer best known for his music album Vulture Prince, which features songs in Urdu poetry and English lyrics.
Wiki/Biography
Arooj Aftab was born in Saudi Arabia on Monday, March 11, 1985 (age 37 years; as of 2022). Born to Pakistani expatriate parents, Aftab began composing her own melodies at a young age. She said in an interview,
The earliest thing I can remember is when I was 9 or 10 years old, making up my own melodies and singing them around the house or for guests… I was surrounded by a lot of music from a very young age and what did I think It’s interesting to me now, I never thought it was unusual to make your own music all the time. “
At the age of 10, Aftab and her family returned to her hometown of Lahore, Pakistan, where she spent her teenage years. During her teenage years, Aftab taught herself to play guitar while developing her vocal skills. She received her first formal musical training when she received a scholarship to attend online classes at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. At 19, she moved to the United States to attend Berklee College of Music, where she earned degrees in music production and engineering and jazz composition.
Arooj Aftab performing at Berklee Encore Gala 2008
family
Not much is known about her parents. Arooj Aftab has two brothers. Her brother Gauher Aftab is the CEO of Pakistan Youth Employment Foundation.
Aruji Aftab and her family
Her brother Maher died while she was working on her music album Prince of Condor. She revealed in an interview that she dedicated the album to her brother. She said sadly,
When I dedicated this album to my brother, I didn’t realize I would have to talk about him over and over again. “
Maher Aftab, brother of Arooj Aftab
religion
She was born into a Muslim family in Saudi Arabia.
Profession
Aftab began her musical journey in the late 1990s and early 2000s, using the Internet as a platform to release her music. She made waves in the Pakistani independent music scene with her two hit songs “Hallelujah” and “Mera Pyaar”. At the time, Pakistan’s independent music infrastructure was underdeveloped and Aftab had no access to Western online platforms. Her songs, initially shared via email, later inspired a younger generation of artists to produce and release their music independently. By the time she left for Berkeley, Aftab had gained a loyal fan base in Pakistan. In 2010, Aftab moved to New York, where she began her music career. She began editing and scoring films while releasing her own music. She then began composing music for the film Bittu (2020), which went on to win a Student Academy Award (2020).
She also served as an additional editor on the Emmy Award-winning documentary Armed with Faith (2017), which won her a News & Documentary Emmy Award (2018).
Arooj Aftab won the News & Documentary Emmy Award (2018) for serving as additional editor on the film Armed with Faith (2017)
While working at American music channels MTV and Vice, where she oversaw the music, sound and video departments, she became interested in Sufi music after listening to the thumris of famous Indian singer Begum Akhtar. In April 2011, Aftab was included in the crowdsourced list of “100 Composers Under 40” launched by US radio stations NPR (National Public Radio) and WQXR-FM’s Q2. In 2013, she served as the musical director for Cary McClelland’s film No Shepherd. She has since written and performed music for the album The Julius Eastman Memory Depot in 2013 and Tale and Tone Records in 2017. Her debut music album Bird Under Water (2014) was released independently. In March 2015, Financial Times reporter David Honigmann gave the album 4 stars out of 5, and the album received positive reviews. In July 2018, the album’s song “Lullaby” ranked No. 150 on NPR’s “200 Songs” chart. The greatest songs by women of the 21st century. “
On the album, she interprets the Qawwali “Man Kunto Maula”, composed by the thirteenth-century Sufi polymath Hazrat Amir Khusro. She dubbed the title song “Insaaf” for the Indian film “Talvar” (2015) and the song “Raske Bhare Tore Nain” for the Pakistani film “Dobara Phir Se” (2016).
Song “Insaaf” from the movie Talvar (2015)
In early 2017, she met pianist, composer, and MacArthur Fellow Vijay Iyer during the Ecstasy Music Festival in New York. Backstage, before the show, Aftab and Iyer spontaneously composed some music live. The two have been working together ever since and recorded an album together. In 2017, Aftab worked in the video production department of Condé Nast. On June 12, 2018, her second album “Siren Island” was released on New Amsterdam Records.
“Siren Island” was so well received by audiences that it was included in NPR’s “Our Favorite Electronic Dance Music of 2018” list. The hit song “Island No. 2” in the album was selected into the “New York Times” list of “The 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018”. In 2020, she lent her voice to Residente’s Latin Grammy Award-winning song “Antes Que El Mundo Se Acabe,” for which she won a Latin Grammy Award for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Category.
On April 23, 2021, Aftab’s third studio album “Vulture Prince” was released on New Amsterdam Records.
Her hit song “Mohabbat” from her album Vulture Prince earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Global Music Performance. Her eponymous website features Vulture Prince merchandise, such as custom T-shirts and Dana El Masri perfume.
Prince of Condor Perfume Oil created by Dana El Masri
In 2021, she signed with the American record label Verve Records. She worked as a composer, sound designer and implementer on the 2021 noir adventure indie video game “Backbone”. In April 2022, she was nominated in the “Best Global Music Performance” and “Best New Artist” categories for her song “Mohabbat” at the 64th Grammy Awards in Las Vegas. A Grammy nomination for an artist who sings in Urdu has raised Aftab’s profile in the New York music scene. In 2022, she sang the song “Mehram” with Asfar Hussain in the Pakistani TV show “Coca-Cola Studio”.
Favorites
- Singer (USA): Billie Eilish, Finneas, Billie Holiday, Mariah Carey
- Singer (India): Zakir Hussain, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Begum Akhtar
- Singer (Pakistan): Abida Parveen
- Song: “Family Ties” by American rapper Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar
Facts/Trivia
- The release trajectory of the music album Prince of Vultures was interrupted by the unexpected deaths of two people, Aftab’s close friend Anni Ali Khan and her brother Maher.
- In the lyrics of the music album “The Vulture Prince”, she made reference to the works of famous Sufi poets such as Mirza Ghalib, Rumi and Hafiz Hoshiapuri.
- For inspiration, the Sufi singer turned to her friends in Pakistan, who scoured ancient bazaars for historical books about the Mughal Empire that featured Urdu poetry. She said in an interview,
I have friends in Pakistan and I ask them to keep an eye out for anything related to the Mughal Empire. A lot of the music from the fifties ended up being in Urdu.I basically have minions [laughs]. A journalist or scholar friend who goes to a library in Pakistan.
- In 2015, she clashed with Patari, a Pakistani music streaming service known as Pakistan’s largest music streaming service. Apparently, the singer accused Patari of streaming songs and licensed music from various artists, including herself, for free online. Apparently, she claims this streaming mechanism pays production labels royalties on streamed songs. Therefore, the record label keeps a larger percentage, while the artist only gets one cent per song.
- The 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, has chosen the song “Mohabbat” from the music album “Vulture Prince” as one of his favorites for his summer 2021 playlist.
- She revealed in an interview that she does not drink cold drinks. Explaining her reasons behind quitting soda, she said:
I think I said I don’t drink soda! Coca-Cola has done some very dark and terrible things to farmers in India and Pakistan in the past. So I don’t support them at all. “
- She is not a vegetarian.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education