Arooj Aftab sings love and pain – Giovanni Ansaldo

Arooj Aftab, Mohabbat
In the Arab tradition, the ghazal it is a poem, recited or sung, dedicated to the loved one. It simultaneously expresses the pain of loss or separation from a loved one, but also the beauty of love. It is from this 17th century tradition that Arooj Aftab, a Pakistani composer living in Brooklyn, New York, has drawn. Mohabbat it is in fact a very widespread ghazal, and has been interpreted by many artists, starting with the Pakistani singer Mehdi Hassan, nicknamed “the emperor of the ghazal”.

Arooj Aftab’s piece is part of Vulture prince, a disc that will be released on April 23 and which is dedicated to his brother Maher, who died just as the artist was working on the album. And that could explain the choice of a touching song like Mohabbat. In addition to this track, Aftab has so far released another single from the album, Last night, music version of an old poem by Jalal al Din Rumi, a 13th century Persian theologian, poet and mystic.

I haven’t listened yet Vulture prince, but after hearing these two songs and recovering the two previous Arooj Aftab records, Bird under water e Siren islands, I can’t wait to be able to do it. The music of the Pakistani composer is very refined and delicate, suspended as it is between minimalism, classical, new age, jazz and mysticism.

Brockhampton, Buzzcut (feat. Danny Brown)
The new album by Brockhampton, one of the most interesting rap collectives on the American scene (or a “boy band”, as they like to call themselves), is perhaps not one of their best works, but it has several excellent pieces. For example the opening one, Buzzcut, where Kevin Abstract (the frontman of the collective) is joined by Detroit rapper Danny Brown. At the end of the song, instead, Joba, another member of the collective, appears with his high notes, between a saxophone and echoes of Kanye West. What a bum.

Fiona Apple, Love more
Sharon Van Etten has decided to celebrate her debut album Epic, released in September 2010, with a special edition entitled Epic ten, which also contains songs from the disc sung by other artists such as Big Red Machine, Idles and Lucinda Williams.

Among the people involved is also Fiona Apple, who has alighted with her infinite grace on Love more, the song that closed the album. He took some gospel soul out of it and added his unique taste for rhythm (which became more and more evident in Fetch the bolt cutters) and the melody. Heard today, in fact, Love more it seemed written especially for her.

Black Keys, Crawling kingsnake
A few years ago I liked the Black Keys, and honestly I never understood the duality with the White Stripes. Yes, ok, both groups were a guitar-drums duo. So what then? They have always had a similar style, but they started almost at the same time and the accusations of plagiarism by Jack White (who is a genius, for heaven’s sake) are quite funny. What should Jimmy Page say about White then? What about Jimmy Page’s Willie Dixon? Talks about plagiarism in music have always bored me.

Controversy aside, the Black Keys were good. But then they got a bit lost along the way: the last good album was The way, then only anonymous things. But now there is a small consolation on the horizon: the duo will publish in May Delta kream, a collection of covers of old blues songs recorded in ten hours in 2015 in a Nashville studio. The first excerpt is Crawling kingsnake, a song made famous by John Lee Hooker. A return to the garage blues roots that was needed.

Alek Hidell, Yolk
One of the most interesting Italian records of recent months is Ravot, debut of the Buggerru musician Alek Hidell. His style is particular: he brings together prog rock, hip hop rhythms and vintage electronics.

Ravot is a concept album, based on a story that Alek Hidell has known since childhood: “In 1942 in Buggerru, a small town in the southwest of Sardinia, children were bathing near the quay. A stray torpedo hit the dock: two children died and a third child witnessed the scene. The trauma made him schizophrenic. He was the one who used to be called ‘the madman of the country’ “, Alek Hidell told me,” Every time when I was a child I asked ‘why is he like this?’, Everyone told me that he had gone crazy because he had seen that scene. The record tells the story of this person ”.

P.S. Updated playlist, good listening!