World Music Institute Presents Arooj Aftab, Vijay Ayer, and Shahzad Ismaily: Love In Exile

Love In Exile is the creation of three world-class musicians, steeped in jazz and South Asian musical traditions, who come together to forge a singular voice and musical vision. Arooj Aftab is a GRAMMY award-winning singer, composer, and producer working in various musical styles and idioms, including jazz, minimalism, and Urdu poetry. Pianist Vijay Iyer is one of the leading music-makers of his generation. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a GRAMMY nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily’s sensitivity and technical acumen has made him a legend, recording and touring with musicians like Beth Orton, Yoko Ono, Feist, and many others. Love In Exile’s self-titled debut album was one of the most critically-acclaimed releases of 2003 so far, creating lush, haunting collaborative soundscapes of meditation and yearning. NPR described the project as a “manifestation in musical telepathy”. Onstage, this trio draws on the improvisatory spirit of jazz and the Urdu poetic tradition to explore one-of-a-kind performances defined by a sense of timeless beauty and sudden surprise.