NEW SOUNDS: #4487, Spiritual Music Where East Meets West
NEW SOUNDS: #4487, Spiritual Music Where East Meets West
BY JOHN SCHAEFER
“Brooklyn-based Pakistani-American singer and composer Arooj Aftab weaves together sounds of Western instrumentation with texts from Urdu and Farsi poetry on her most recent album, Vulture Prince, which is dedicated to the memory of Aftab’s younger brother, Maher. Her her rich, thoughtful, and mellifluous vocal lines are supported by somehow floating world chamber-jazz from Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist, bassist Petros Klampanis, violinist Darian Donovan Thomas, and Shazhad Ismaily on synths, just to mention some of the talented cast of players.”