THERE is a song on Arooj Aftab’s new album called “Whiskey”. In keeping with the overall theme of Night Reign, it’s more about deciphering the mysterious codes of the nighttime – do they really like you or are they just drunk? – than it is about Aftab’s love of whisky. But she wants to make it clear that she does also love whisky. “I really like Macallan,” she confides. “I want them to endorse me, but they only endorse very old-fashioned men, the kind of Rotary Club guy. Actually, they’re like, ‘We don’t need to endorse you – you basically buy so much Macallan, we’re fine.’ I like a good Scotch, but lately all my whisky-drinking friends have switched to mezcal for some reason. They say it’s way smoother, the hangover is less and it’s less crazy.” She looks unconvinced. “Less crazy? Has anyone ever seen me after two things of tequila? I’m a maniac.”
There are few artists you’d rather spend a sunny afternoon in London with than Arooj Aftab. Far from the dubiously exoticised “Sufigoddess” of some write-ups, she’s much more complex and intriguing and real: a singer with a devastating voice making adventurous music of rarified beauty who also swears like a trooper, enjoys a drink and can hold forth entertainingly on topics ranging from 18th-century poets to Netflix comedies.
Aftab has requested we meet at the Barbican, scene of a triumphant 2022 show that announced her arrival as a major player in contemporary music. “It’s still one of the most memorable shows I’ve played,” she recalls fondly. “Everybody was screaming, the crowd was buzzing, it was sold out and beyond, Anoushka [Shankar] guesting, Talvin Singh was there… such a great show.” Although she has played the venue again since with her improvisatory trio Love In Exile, she’s never had a chance to linger. This is the first time she’s visited the Barbican’s brutalist terrace, with its quirky art installations and green oblong lake. “Good place for a date,” she observes, as ducks waddle happilypast the arty couples gesticulating intently to each other by the fountains.
