, Music Content Producer | From , the thirdalbum by Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab, was a minorsensation, garnering breathless praise from criticsworldwide. And with good reason: it merged disparateinfluences seamlessly, and made sounds that may have beennew to Western audiences seem familiar. More thanthat, it’s an extremely easy listen.
Despite beinginspired by, and dedicated to, her late brother, andconsequently undercut by tragedy, Aftab’s voice has rarewarmth, and her taste in arrangements aims tosoothe. That’s still the case on followup , an album that broadens her musical palette;somewhat more urgent, and just as inviting. Although she composed most ofthe music, only three songs on featurelyrics by Aftab.
For the rest she continued a mode begun on , adapting the work of Pakistani andIndian poets. Here that includes two by 18th centuryUrdu poet Mah Laqa Bai Chanda. In an , Aftab says she felt a “nagging senseof connection to her”, as Chanda was the first female fromSouth Asia to publish poetry in Urdu.
In thatinterview you get a sense of the reverence she has for theoriginal work, and the amount of time spent coming to gripswith it. As she says “You can’t just composesomebody’s poems if you don’t have a sense of who theyare”. Effort was made to have the music sound asroyal and stately as the words required, resulting in trackslike the tranquil ‘Saaqi’.
Aftab has gathered awider range of collaborators around her for this release,including returning .
