Abstecher is proud to welcome the amazing singer and guitar player Arooj Aftab from Pakistan, who lives in New York City since 2005.
A mesmerizing new voice and an inspiring antidote to the homogeneity overwhelming the music industry today, Arooj Aftab innovates off classical Sufi music for a sound that is fresh, graceful, and musically complex. Aftab layers subtle, intricate, dynamic vocals over acoustic instrumentation, skillfully re-imagining indigenous soul with signature ‘cool.’
Arooj has created a buzz both within the South Asian community and amongst a responsive and discerning public at large. The Boston Globe noted, “Aftab’s ethereal voice swirls and dives in the delicate, complicated motions of her country’s long musical heritage,” and MTV Desi reported, “Arooj filled the space with her gentle yet surprisingly forceful vocal style.”
Anoushka Shankar, daughter of legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar, said, “Arooj has the unique ability to combine her training in traditional vocals with western instrumentation in a way that is both accessible to Western audiences and still very culturally unique.” Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuoso Steve Vai commented, “A girl like this, with drive and ability and goals, she’s going to inspire a lot of people. That’s how you get evolution.”
Debut Album Release: Dark post-pop meets mystic muse, Arooj Aftab’s Bird Under Water undulates and scintillates. A masterful expression of lyrical and acoustic soul, tripped out through analog voltage and experimental digital filters.
http://aroojaftab.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53izq9PGo-o&spfreload=10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHJhrNtV8WY&spfreload=10
Arooj has also worked on the soundtrack of the critically acclaimed Pakistan documentary „Without Shepherds“.
http://www.withoutshepherds.com
ABSTECHER 