Photo: Ebru Yildiz.

Arooj Aftab in concert

at Bing Hall, Stanford University

Written by:
David e. Moreno
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The last time Pakistani-American singer and composer Arooj Aftab performed at Bing Concert Hall, she was 19. For that performance, her only accompaniment was her guitar, a shot of whiskey, and a big dream in her ancient heart. Twenty years later, she returned to Stanford with a Grammy among her accolades and three stellar musicians to elevate her timeless vocals: Gyan Riley, guitar; Duma Bell Le Pere, bass and Engin Gunaydin, drums and percussion.

But first—a faltering opening set featuring pop singer Zsela and an unknown guitarist. Throughout their thirty-minute performance, Zsela’s sultry vocals were frequently overcome by the excessively high volume from a pre-recorded soundtrack and her accompanist. It seemed incongruous for this relatively intimate concert hall and why her only a cappella song offered the best glimpse into her talent. For most of the set, Zsela seemed uncomfortable in this theater-in-the-round staging, often singing from the spotlight’s shadow as if missing her mark. She assumed a familiarity with the audience, expressing her complaints as jokes, coercing them to take a deep breath in and out, and waving “I love you all” as she left the stage, which fell flat and insincere.

The reverse was immediately true when Arooj Aftab and her ensemble took the stage for the second half. The four have a perfectly harmonious synergy— a tangible reverence for each other’s talent that never outshines the other but reflects it back. Even with Aftab admittedly being hungover from last night’s performance in San Francisco, the sound was seamless. Together, they floated through selections of her breakout Vulture Prince album and the recent 2024 release, Night Reign. In between songs, with dry minimalist humor, Aftab encouraged the audience to “loosen up, even though my music is meditative and makes you want to cry,” and then shamed her loyal fans for not following her on Instagram, despite her 169K followers. “What’s with that?” she smirked.

As Gyan Riley riffed on his guitar with breathtaking speed, ala Pat Matheny, the colorful Duma Bell Le Pere coolly strummed a standup bass. Engin Gunaydin beat multiple rhythms on his drum set simultaneously, turning to Mideastern drums and back to percussion, allowing Arooj Aftab’s smooth, smoky voice to do what it does best. Aftab happens to her listeners—transporting them like a gentle desert breeze that crosses centuries and continents with its origin in our bones. For the standing ovation encore, the ensemble returned with Aftab’s hit, “Mohabbat,” the song Barack Obama listed in his 2021 Summer Playlist.

David e. Moreno

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