Swet Shop Boys share new music video for ‘Aaja’, announce Osheaga festival and Berlin show
"In large part, Cashmere was an album that eschewed Bollywood samples to look hundreds of years further back to Qawwali. Qawwali is a Sufi devotional music popular in both Pakistan and India, fusing together Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Indian musical traditions. The lyrics often blur the line between spiritual and hedonistic, and thus Qawwali performances are typically spaces where one could mix sacred and profane sentiments with a gender and age-mixed audience. While we shot the video in August, our mission is even more important today: to respond to fear and divisiveness with defiant love.
Directed by Sofian Khan, this homage to teenage love was shot in Flushing, Queens and Coney Island, Brooklyn - bridging the gap between our Indian and Pakistani communities the same way Qawwali has. Once we wrote the hook for Aaja we knew we needed Pakistan's talented Ali Sethi to sing on it, helping us connect our diaspora dots while remaining true to the style of Qawwali.
We closed the song with a sample from Qandeel Baloch, the Pakistani social media star who was murdered by her brother in a so-called "honor killing" a few weeks after we made Aaja. The video is dedicated to her and all others whose attempts to live and love freely have been met with hate.” - Swet Shop Boys
This video was directed by Sofian Khan, the track was produced by Redinho and features Pakistani singer Ali Sethi.
SSB 2017 Tour Dates
This year sees SSB play their biggest headline shows to date, including Webster Hall’s grand ballroom on April 12th and London Scala on June 1stalongside performances at Primavera, Coachella and Osheaga Festivals. Tickets are available at www.swetshopboys.com.
April 12th - Webster Hall, NYC
April 15th - Coachella Festival, Indio
April 22nd - Coachella Festival, Indio
June 1st - Scala, London
June 2nd - Gretchen, Berlin
June 3rd - Primavera Festival, Barcelona
August 5th - Osheaga Festival, Montreal
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