Singer

Grammy-winning artist Arooj Aftab is breaking new ground with her captivating, eclectic melting-pot of influences from jazz, folk, pop, blues and South Asian classical. For her Proms debut tonight, Aftab collaborates with Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra to explore her distinctive sound on a symphonic scale.

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Arooj Aftab and Ibrahim Maalouf

Royal Albert Hall

Declared "the coolest rock star in the world right now," by UNCUT magazine, Arooj Aftab has earned her position at the vanguard of creative music for her embrace of risk and nonconformity. In 2024, she released her fourth solo album, Night Reign (Verve), to universal acclaim, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Jazz Album, while the song "Raat Ki Rani" was tabbed for Best Global Music Performance. Night Reign's predecessor, Vulture Prince, earned her a Best New Artist Grammy nomination in 2022 and a win for the song "Mohabbat." Over the last few years, she has delivered "rapturous performances" at major venues and international festivals including Primavera, Glastonbury, and Coachella. She has appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk, Later with Jools Holland, Brodie and Mahogany sessions. Aftab has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Financial Times, The Quietus, and Time, among others. 

Toronto Jazz Festival and Small World Music present Arooj Aftab

The Royal Conservatory of Music

Join us for an unforgettable evening at Stanford Live as we present the Grammy Award-winning artist Arooj Aftab at Bing Concert Hall. This special performance is scheduled for Saturday, January 25, 2025, at 7:30 PM. Arooj Aftab, celebrated for her innovative blend of jazz, minimalism, and the evocative beauty of Urdu poetry, has captivated audiences worldwide, earning her three Grammy nominations and the distinction of being the first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance.

The evening promises to be a mesmerizing experience, with Aftab's soulful voice and genre-defying music. Doors will open at 6:30 PM, allowing guests to enjoy beverages, light bites, and snacks available for purchase before the performance begins.

Tickets start at $32, offering an accessible opportunity for all to witness Aftab's breathtaking talent live. Don't miss your chance to be part of this musical journey that transcends boundaries and celebrates the power of global music.

For more information on directions, parking, and other upcoming events, please visit the Stanford Live website. Secure your tickets now for an evening of exquisite music with Arooj Aftab at Stanford Live's Bing Concert Hall.

Arooj Aftab

Stanford University

Transformative may not be an urgent enough word to describe the multi-hyphenate creative Arooj Aftab. Rooted to a constellation of unmappable margins and elegant refusals, she lithely moves against the weight of time and convention, honoring multiple traditions while being owned by none. She eludes categorical capture through an expansive repertoire of study, including the techniques of music production and engineering as well a sprawling vocal practice that moves with cunning intention through and alongside jazz, South Asian classical music, pop, and blues. With and from these living, mercurial forms Aftab labors in design of something that she adoringly refers to as “global soul.” She is its erudite scribe and dark chanteuse, successfully convincing audiences all over the world that genres are a lie but she should be believed.

Arooj Aftab: Night Reign

HERE Arts Center

As We Speak: Banjo legend Béla Fleck, tabla master Zakir Hussain, double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer, and Indian bamboo flute (bansuri) player Rakesh Chaurasia join forces for As We Speak, an album and live project  that not only showcases the group’s breathtaking abilities as instrumentalists but underscores the wide range of musical influences at their command. Across a dozen tracks, the group glides easily between the cerebral complexity of Indian rhythm and the gut-level groove of a funky bass line, sounding equally at home with the rigors of raga.

Zakir Hussain, Bela Fleck, Rakesh Chaurasia, Edgar Meyer. Special Guest Arooj Aftab

South Asia Institute

The trio of Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily first coalesced in 2018 in New York City; an unplanned, improvised performance that revealed their natural chemistry. Iyer, a pianist, composer, and MacArthur “Genius,” currently finds himself at the center of the galaxy of improvised music, guiding a storied career through continued evolution with new ideas and new collaborators. He finds worthy peers in Ismaily, a largely self-taught composer and musician who has mastered the electric and double bass, guitar, banjo, accordion, flute, drums, as well as various percussion and electronic instruments; and Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based Aftab, the ascendant ambient musician and vocalist who was awarded the 2022 Grammy for Best Global Music Performance and is a 2023 United States Artists Fellow and a recipient of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music. Their album Love in Exile is a sparsely recorded synthesis of their alchemical improvisation, an intricate yet minimalist universe built on a handful of Urdu couplets that, as Iyer says, “reveals not just the melody but the birth of a song.”

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily: Love in Exile

McCarter Theatre Center

Grammy Award–winning vocalist Arooj Aftab makes Texas debut with the Love in Exile Trio, featuring two of her most trusted collaborators: polymath pianist Vijay Iyer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. Transforming sound into sculpture, the trio creates lush, haunting collaborative soundscapes of meditation and yearning. Their quietly powerful, almost telepathic communication lends itself to experimentation and creates a sound as described by Aftab as “about self-exile, and the search for freedom and identity, and finding it through love and music.”

Love In Exile

Bass Concert Hall

The brilliant jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, Grammy-winning singer Arooj Aftab, and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily continue their brilliant, beautiful conversation. The trio met in New York City and dubbed themselves Love in Exile. Together they’ve forged a singular voice that takes their distinct backgrounds and vast histories of collaboration as a starting point. Individually, they’re extraordinary musicians who see through boundaries between genres and cultures without abandoning the particulars of either. Together, though, they’re artists painting in tandem, their music developing from wisps of piano and shimmers of texture, with Aftab’s voice whispering along the edges and commanding center stage—all without sacrificing their keen sense of interdependence. This is delicate, imaginative music defined by a sense of timeless beauty and sudden surprise.

The John Anson Ford Theatre

Join us for an enchanting evening under the stars at Caramoor in Katonah, NY, on July 29, 2023, featuring the mesmerizing collaboration of Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily in their new project, "Love in Exile." This unique performance, starting at 8:00pm, promises to be a night of lush, haunting soundscapes that explore themes of self-exile, freedom, identity, and the transformative power of love and music.

Brooklyn-based singer and composer Arooj Aftab, the first Pakistani woman to win a Grammy, teams up with pianist Vijay Iyer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily to create melodic sculptures that are largely improvised, offering endless musical possibilities. Their performance at the fully covered Venetian Theater at Caramoor will provide a comfortable and immersive experience, with chairs provided for all attendees.

"Love in Exile" is a limited project anticipating an upcoming recording by the same name. It represents a collaboration between three singular talents, each bringing their unique abilities to merge into something simpler yet no less impressive. Aftab's semi-classical, Hindustani, minimalist compositions, Iyer's acclaimed music-making, and Ismaily's diverse instrumental talents promise an unforgettable night.

Don't miss this opportunity to experience the magic of "Love in Exile" at Caramoor, a venue committed to the health and safety of its audience, artists, and staff. Tickets are still available for this performance. Join us for a night of meditation, yearning, and musical excellence.

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily

Venetian Theater at Caramoor

Arooj Aftab(Opens in a new window) is a Brooklyn-based Pakistani composer, vocalist, and producer who’s “reimagining traditional South Asian music for today,” according to Pitchfork.

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Arooj Aftab

Events

Past events

Jul 29, 2025

Arooj Aftab and Ibrahim Maalouf · BBC Symphony Orchestra

Jun 24, 2025

Toronto Jazz Festival and Small World Music present Arooj Aftab · The Royal Conservatory of Music

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