AROOJ AFTAB: artists love freedom

To Ljubljana for the second time in the last two years at the invitation Other bands come Grammyjevka Arooj aftab, who will be presenting his fourth studio album this time in Kino Šiška Night Reign (Verve Records, 2024). This one brought her two nominations for Grammy, for the best alternative jazz album and for the best global musical performance for the song Raat that wounds. Night Reign has been included in several lists Vulture Prince (New Amsterdam Records, 2021).

An artist who enchants with her mystical voice and enigmatic performance in a language that most of us do not understand (Urdu), but she said, is very indirect and full of analogies, is very happy at Kino Šiška, for Work But she spoke on her day off, which she spent in Athens after appearing in the studio the night before.

In 2022 you received Grammy for the best global performance for the song Mohabatt from your previous album Vulture Prince. After that, many other nominations were followed for the same prestigious award. How did this affect your view of your own creation and the creative process?

Grammy winning is certainly one of the highest awards in the music industry. Therefore, I will be grateful for him forever. Undoubtedly, it has benefited my career, as people from the world of music appreciate it and is of great importance. Already a nomination is difficult to achieve, let alone a victory. Therefore, this certainly raised my music career to a higher level, but it did not significantly affect my creative process. My process remains the same. I love music, I like to create it and continue. Everything else is the same as before.

The album was also accompanied by perfume. Can you describe him and tell him how they complement each other?

The perfume was created in collaboration with an extremely French-Egyptian perfumer Dano el Masri, Which brand is called Jazmin Saraï. She really understood what I wanted to achieve with the theme of the Jastrej Prince (Vulture prince). It is a kind of dark but mysterious, unisex, winter, attractive and seductive odor that matches it perfectly. He is like a mysterious creature that is very fashionable and bold.

In his latest album Night Reign But you move away from him. What is his story and purpose?

Purpose Night Reign is simple. It tells the story of the power of the night, that we are experiencing it all, about different types and shades of events that can happen at night, including how we feel. Sometimes we rest, sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are in a very exciting situation, sometimes we are in the detection phase. Sometimes we simply celebrate. Sometimes we explore. The night is therefore very wide, but at the same time very important for all kinds of creators, including musicians, since most of our performances take place during the night hours, so in some way we live at night.

In Slovene we have the term ‘Night has our own power’.

Yeah, I’m talking about it. The night itself is the character. Is a creature for himself. Is alive. And on my album is a protagonist night. That seems true to me cool.

How does this concept match your own developing identity?

I don’t know. I think every new album offers the opportunity to show more of your personality or to explore yourself in depth. This is best about being an artist. You can re -invent yourself or continue to explore through music. I actually did that.

She has grown with the Night Reign album as a person, she says, and hopes that as a musician. Photo: Kate Sterlin

You describe your music as secrets within the secrets. How this multifaceted storytelling is reflected in Night Reign And how do you hope listeners will perceive these hidden shades?

For me, in the song, there is something of the most fun and the easiest thing that every time I listen to it again, I discover something new in it. This is such a special phenomenon, such an incredible discovery. And it’s complicated.

The secret lies in many things such as writing, layers, production, storytelling and blending in all this. It is a very sensitive balance, and I always strive to achieve it in my music. This encourages the listener to listen to the song again. It is not just that the song is attractive, but that it is attractive enough that you want to play it again, but at the same time it offers more and more when listening to it.

In the song Raat that wounds You worked with Tessa Thompson, of which you are a fan of and created a visual and emotionally rich video. How was it working with her?

I do not have much expertise in terms of visual storytelling. I would say that I am not very developed in this field. Therefore, for me, as fans, not only Tessa’s acting skills, but also her as a person, were something special. It is an incredible human being and real inspiration, not only in my music, but also in my life. She is special and unique in everything she does, in the way she speaks, how he treats friends and family, in work ethics, creativity, mind, play and appearance.

That is why it’s a fan of my music, amazing, but that is why she agreed to directing the video was really wonderful, she says blessing. I like what direction they took with the video and how they captured the subject Raat that woundswho talks about meeting someone, about the bond we weave with that person, but we do not know what to do with it, so let it stay fragile and beautiful. She portrayed this wonderfully and is stunning visually.

You have mentioned that you are moving away from the listeners to see you only as a ‘healer’ of their traumas, and that you want to express more of yourself. How Night Reign It reveals new aspects of your personality even though you insist that you do not want to reveal too much?

Vulture prince It is an album I wrote when I was really sad, broken and destroyed by loss (her younger brother Maher, op. P) died). It has a healing property. It wants to heal a broken heart and fill the emptiness. I In a way, we all experienced similarly after the pandemic. So many people got sick or died.

By Night Reign, who came two and a half years later, I grew up as a person, and I hope as a musician. My attitude towards life has also changed. I wanted to be a more festive mood and a little more happy to say that. It’s great for people to find music serious, transcendent and transformative, but at the same time I want it to reflect my personality. As a person i’m pretty frivolous, and I want to show something in Night Reign. In contrast to the beliefs of some, it does not contain much ancient poetry, but just love poems about ordinary, average things. I want to ensure that everyone understands that I have more different sides.

You often emphasize how it bothers you to try to draw you. How would you prefer to describe you as an artist?

I think that all artists are annoyed to suffer them into drawers and describe them exclusively unilaterally. But we love to develop, we like to show what we are still capable of, we love freedom. We love freedom. We need it.

Of course, they always defined me after where I was from, all that makes me what I am, which cannot be changed. But I do not want it to dominate.