[Cover photo credit to Diana Markosian]
Pakistani-American composer Arooj Aftab has released her sophomore album, Vulture Prince, supported by an eclectic team of musicians.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Arooj Aftab has played venues from Lincoln Center, to (Le) Poisson Rouge, to the Museum of Modern Art with sounds that float between “classical minimalism and new age”, as well as “Sufi devotional poetry and electronic trance, jazz structures and states of pure being”.
Aftab comments on her new album:
“Vulture Prince is about revisiting places I’ve called mine. Places that don’t necessarily exist anymore. It’s about people, friendships, relationships—some relationships that were unexpectedly short term, and how to deal with that.”
While writing Vulture Prince Aftab lost her younger brother, Maher, and she has dedicated this album to his memory, citing Dante’s quote upon emerging from the Inferno, “E quindi uscimmo a revider la stelle”, translated as “and thence we came forth to see again the stars.”
Aftab has been on a nationwide tour, including multiple festival appearances, headlining performances, and one show supporting Caroline Polachek. Following her North American stint, Aftab will undertake more dates in Europe.
