Times and tastes can change. The last time I set foot inside this building was in February 1977. Billed to appear in the QM that night was the Ian Gillan Band, led by the then former vocalist with the English heavy rock band Deep Purple. For reasons lost in the mists of time they had to cancel and drafted in as last-minute replacements were the emerging English punk rock band The Stranglers. The air was filled with much disappointment, anger, and no little hostility.
Back here again nearly half a century later, the venue is a far more serene environment in which to experience live music. We have all come to see and hear the Brooklyn-based Pakistani-American ambient jazz experimentalist Arooj Aftab in concert as part of her ongoing tour of the United Kingdom and Europe.
Arooj Aftab bookends her performance tonight with ‘Suroor’ and the encore ‘Mohabbat’, both songs having been taken from her third studio album, 2021’s Vulture Prince. 47 years beforehand The Stranglers had opened and closed their set with ‘(Get A) Grip (Of Yourself)’ and ‘Down in the Sewer’ respectively, both of which were soon to appear on their debut album Rattus Norvegicus. It is there that any vague similarities end.
The Stranglers were unrefined and aggressive that night and produced a right old racket with what was a questionable punk attitude. It was rumoured that they had to lock themselves in their dressing room after the show due to the rammy going on outside. In marked contrast, the music that Arooj Aftab creates is a thing of rarefied and quite wondrous beauty. I somehow doubt she will have to barricade herself in after this spellbinding performance.
In that dressing room beforehand, though, Arooj Aftab may have communed with some of the ghosts of those memories, because after delivering a mercurial ‘Suroor’ she says, “it feels like a rock vibe in here tonight.” And an air of wanton decadence certainly descends upon the occasion, evidenced by her asking that shots of The Macallan whisky are freely given out to those in the audience.
Generosity percolates throughout this performance. To the shining constellation of musicians who are on stage with Arooj Aftab tonight, Gyan Riley (guitar), Petros Klampanis (upright bass), and Darian Donovan Thomas (violin); they all collaborate together as one. And to the audience, to the venue, and to the city, Arooj Aftab gives of herself. It may be her first time in Glasgow but she openly surrenders herself to it with her talent, with her heart.
The ten songs played here tonight are split between Vulture Prince and last year’s imperious Night Reign albums. Both records draw upon the influences of jazz, folk, western and Hindustani classical music, complete with the occasional nod towards the ambient and the avant-garde. Yet for all the myriad of musical styles that Arooj Aftab seamlessly blends together, the final product equates to far much more than the sum of its constituent parts. It is all knit together with her extraordinary voice, an astonishing hypnotic instrument that carefully balances seduction with stridency. Whether singing in Urdu or English its language is universal.
With another unwitting yet spooky connection to the QM of my past, the stage lighting suddenly turns a shade of deep purple and as if somehow acknowledging this strange association the four musicians let loose on a reading of ‘Bolo Na’ that positively rocks out. For the concluding ‘Mohabbat’ Arooj Aftab removes her shades. But the magical sense of mystery remains, still there, still firmly intact. It is a brilliantly mesmerising evening where personal nostalgia and the sheer singular vibrancy of the here and now combine together in such perfect harmony.
Photos: Simon Godley
