Live Music Review: Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily Perform Love in Exile at Bass Concert Hall

On the evening of Friday, September 29 2023, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily took to the stage at Bass Concert Hall to perform their spellbinding collaborative project Love in Exile. What transpired over the course of the next hour was, in every sense of the word, art. 

The three performers wordlessly took position on stage shortly before 8 p.m., after an introduction by Bob Bursey, Executive & Creative Director at Texas Performing Arts. Bursey reminded the audience that we were about to hear from the most credentialed set of artists on any stage in Austin that night. Indeed, all three of them hold an impressive set of accomplishments. Aftab (vocals) is the first Pakistani to win a Grammy for her solo fusion sound that combines jazz and traditional music from the subcontinent. Iyer (piano/electronics) has been nominated for both a Grammy and a McArthur genius award. Ismaily (bass/Moog synth) is a renowned producer and session musician embedded in the music industry, having played on or produced almost 400 records in the past two decades.

As the trio took their places a silence fell over the hall. Rather than jumping straight into the music, the artists allowed the silence to settle for a long moment. It was an invitation to the audience to let go of everything outside the space, to sit quietly and fully experience the unhurried performance. Then, almost imperceptibly at first, came the low rhythmic throb of a bass guitar. Dim, moody lighting in cool tones invited us to shift attention away from visuals and focus on sound. As Iyer’s piano and Aftab’s voice each joined in turn, a sense of reverent awe was palpable in the room.

Bass Concert Hall is an ideal venue for this show. The music of Love in Exile is resonant and powerful. Think of an intense dream – one that takes you on a complex emotional journey and stays with you for days afterward – and this would be its soundtrack. These three masters of their instruments (Aftab’s voice being used as such) wove gentle, persistent sounds that occasionally reached up toward the heavens in volume and intensity. It was nothing short of an extemporaneous wander across a stark musical landscape, bringing the captivated audience along for the ride.

At one point Aftab paused to tell the audience about how their collaboration came into being after they initially played together in New York in 2018. All three of them immediately recognized a powerful connection that they knew needed to be pursued. It hardly needed to be said. Love in Exile is more than music, it’s an obvious commingling of creative souls who understand one another on a transcendent level. The project explores themes of love, freedom, identity and beauty, inviting listeners to turn inward and acknowledge which parts of themselves resonate with these haunting melodies.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the performance is Aftab’s voice, a deep and lilting alto that seems to well up from within the unconscious mind and surround the listener like a bath of warm honey. It’s a voice that is at once placid and commanding; undeniable and impossible to resist. The majority of the vocals were performed in Urdu, giving the primarily English-speaking audience an opportunity to focus on the heart-based sound rather than fixing on the intellectual meaning of the words sung.

Conscious of every aspect of the performance, Aftab paused briefly before starting a new song to give lighting direction from mid-stage. “Is it too early for red?” she mused, as the audience audibly chuckled. It was an unintentional reminder that they were not simply onstage performing, but actively creating something in our presence.

As the show ended, a grateful audience offered a standing ovation before spilling out of the theater into the warm evening. A glorious full moon hung low over the University of Texas campus, a sense of holy joy dissipating into the night as attendees went our separate ways, grateful to Love in Exile for reminding us how sweet it is to commune to music in honor of our shared existence.

Learn more about Love in Exile, including upcoming tour dates.

All photos by Brandon Sandler 

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