Grammy winner Arooj Aftab sets new record at Coachella

Arooj Aftab, a Pakistani singer based in Brooklyn, has put another feather to her cap with a performance at the highly regarded Coachella music festival.

She broke down barriers by being the first Pakistani to perform at the famous event, with a set that focused on her melodic Urdu poetry.

The language barrier is no longer an issue for Aftab:

“This is a door that’s opened.”

The 37-year-old, who recently recorded a cover of Di mi nombre by Spanish flamenco revisionist Rosalia, sees a revolution in popular music, with performers openly crossing genre and boundary lines.

“There’s a movement happening in the music industry at large,” she told AFP on the grounds of Coachella, where she delivered a moving performance of her work that fuses ancient Sufi traditions with inflections of folk, jazz and minimalism.

“The audience and the musicians are creating music and the audiences are listening to music with a lot of freedom in their minds. Less genre-genre, less border-border,” she said.

“It’s so free, and open, and really, really beautiful.”

Arooj Aftab

She recognizes the Latinx community for making significant progress in this area, including Rosalia, Becky G, Karol G, J. Balvin, and Bad Bunny as key players.

“The trap movement definitely changed the way listeners listen,” Aftab said, referring to the explosion of Southern US hip hop that later made it’s way into Latin America and fused with reggaeton.

She went on to say that the rise of Latin music on US airways, particularly on streaming platforms, “opened a great opening in the minds of listeners in America.” ”

“They now listen to music that they don’t understand, and it’s fine! They love it. That’s a big step.”

Aftab said that opening has allowed her to feel more liberated with her own creations, putting out music based on emotions, without limitation .

“It’s a personal music,” she said. “It’s not ‘my country, my country’ — it’s global music. It’s everything that we feel, it’s all the people that we meet.”

“Whatever makes my heart sing is in the music.”

With three studio albums under her belt, Aftab made history by being the first Pakistani solo vocalist to win a Grammy, in the Best Global Performance category, for her song Mohabbat.

She was also nominated for the prestigious Best New Artist award, which went to pop star Olivia Rodrigo, as expected.

Aftab, on the other hand, is savoring the moment of notoriety, as well as her two appearances at the prestigious Coachella festival.

“It feels really amazing, it’s a high – it’s a high moment in my career,” the singer said. “I’ve been working towards this moment and imagining that this moment would come, or not.”

“And it did! Which is miraculous.”

Arooj Aftab

She’s also excited to be performing in front of live crowds again, with Coachella returning after a three-year hiatus due to the epidemic.

The 2022 Coachella poster, which features performers from all over the world, is a reflection of music’s globalization and genre flexibility.

That’s a significant win for Aftab:

“This is a door that’s opened, for sure.”

“And I’m going to leave the door open, for sure.”

Arooj Aftab

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