RAWALPINDI: Former US President Barack Obama on Saturday shared his annual summer playlist, which this year includes a famous Urdu ghazal performed by Pakistani artist Arooj Aftab.
Obama, who served as US president from 2009-2017, started the tradition of sharing his top picks of films, books, and songs during his presidency and continues to do so since leaving the White House.
This summer's playlist has 38 songs and names Aftab alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Jay-Z, The Rolling Stones, Drake and Bob Dylan. Obama called the list "a mix of old and new, household names and emerging artists, and a whole lot in between."
"Mohabbat," written by Hafeez Hoshiarpuri in the 1920s, is one the most famous classical Urdu poems and the lead single of Aftab's recently released album, "Vulture Prince."
Responding to Obama's list on her Instagram account, Aftab, a native of Lahore who lives in New York City, said: "This has been wonderful to wake up to."
Aftab has lived in the US for nearly two decades since she left Pakistan for Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music. In a recent interview to Arab News, she said her music owed a large debt to her hometown, Lahore, and the music and the poetry of her country of origin.
The 36-year-old began to make headlines in 2018, when National Public Radio (NPR) listed her "Lullaby" as one of the 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women+ and the New York Times celebrated her "Island No 2" among the Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018.
"Vulture Prince," which is Aftab's third album, has already gained critical acclaim, with Pitchfork magazine, a barometer of the independent music scene, praising her "technical skill and compositional fearlessness" in blending Pakistani classical music with jazz and trance to create her singular sound.
