ISLAMABAD: Brooklyn-based vocalist Arooj Aftab, who won the first ever Grammy by a Pakistani artist last year, has been nominated for Best Global Music Performance for the second year in a row.
In April this year, Aftab scored her first Grammy, winning a prestigious trophy for her song “Mohabbat” in the Best Global Performance category. She was also the first Pakistani women ever to be nominated for a Grammy.
“Oh my god, Udhero Na has been nominated for a Grammy,” Aftab said in a video posted on her Instagram page, saying a song she wrote when she was 15 years old was finally getting its “flowers.
“I’m very emotional, I’m very glad.”
The 37-year-old, who has lived in New York for some 15 years, has been steadily gaining global attention for her work that fuses ancient Sufi traditions with inflections of folk, jazz and minimalism.
Born to Pakistani parents in Saudi Arabia, Aftab spent her teenage years in Lahore before relocating to Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music to study musical production and engineering.
She released her third studio album “Vulture Prince” to critical acclaim, and gained even more attention after former US president Barack Obama included the track “Mohabbat” on his 2021 summer favorites list.
The Grammys will be handed out at a ceremony in downtown Los Angeles on Feb. 5. Winners will be chosen by the nearly 13,000 musicians, producers and songwriters who belong to the Recording Academy.
