An Interview with Arooj Aftab

Image via Shreya Dev Dube

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On any given night in Brooklyn, you might find singer and composer Arooj Aftab contemplatively walking about.

“Walking around on the street, out at night, ideas are coming to us all the time. That’s what it is to be an artist,” Aftab said. “Your brain is always open and you have to be that way.”

As Aftab tells me about the process of making her latest album, Night Reign, over Zoom, feels like receiving an education in personal artistry. Aftab, who became the first woman of Pakistani descent to win a Grammy in 2022 (for “Best Global Music Performance”), believes that everything artists do in their life is reflected in their work.

On Night Reign, which is the result of Aftab’s night visions while on tour with her third album Vulture Prince, nothing is unintentional. Over nine tracks, the Riyadh and Lahore raised Aftab fuses jazz, Urdu poetry, and complex harmonies to tell stories about the different stages of love.

In our conversation, the self-taught guitarist takes me through all the details of her process. She explains how she went about setting 18th century Urdu poet Mai Laqa Bai Chanda’s work to music, and the ways in which Brooklyn’s “kinetic energy” pushes her artistry. There’s a seriousness to Aftab as she breaks down the harmony changes in “Aey Nehin,” her favorite song on the album. Making music about heartbreak, grief, and capitalism perhaps requires it.

Night Reign features synthesizers, harps, and an upright bass manipulated in ways I haven’t heard before. The mastery of jazz instruments paired with Aftab’s light and loud voice feels seductive, inviting the listener to slow dance, cry, or meditate. The poetic, dynamic album dips into all of the senses; Aftab’s celestial voice evokes the smells and tastes of nocturnal existence.

“Bolo Na” is a reinterpretation of an old Urdu love song, featuring spoken-word artist Moor Mother and vibraphonist Joel Ross. But it’s not a love song at all, rather its a commentary on the current state of the world. As I listened, I could picture Moor Mother and Aftab in conversation, disheartened by their reality as Moor Mother doles with hard truths, declaring, “Sometimes I don’t feel safe out here / In your arms, no, I don’t feel safe, my dear.”

Aftab was first connected to Moor Mother by Aftab’s frequent collaborator, pianist Vijay Iyer, who is also featured on the fifth track of Night Reign, “Saaqi,” when they shared a moment on-stage.

“[Iyer will] just put together a bunch of people, and then we go out and we play his music, and we just improvise,” Aftab said. “That was the first time I met her, when we were on stage together. I was singing something, and she started to speak, and we both looked at each other and we were like, ‘Whoa. This is great.’”

The album also features other incredible artists such as harpist Maeve Gilchrist, Chocolate Genius Inc., and even a Wurlitzer cameo from one of Aftab’s biggest fans, Elvis Costello (on “Last Night (Reprise).”

Suppressing your feelings is impossible while listening to Aftab’s music as she feels everything – sadness, loneliness, lust, disappointment, and pain. Unplugging my headphones and returning to reality felt like leaving a good therapy session: you feel lighter in one way, and heavier in another.

As Aftab prepares for a European tour and a performance at Central Park’s SummerStage, I spoke to her about her love of “side stories,” parallel universes, and working with Tessa Thompson on the “Raat Ki Rani” music video. – Sophie Steinberg