\n<\/p>\n
Describing their collaboration on \u201cLast Night Reprise,\u201d a jazzy interpretation of a poem by the 13th-century Persian writer Rumi, Karpeh recalled Aftab taking the vantage of a film director, using visual cues to encourage different takes. \u201cThere\u2019s a trust in how we approach our music,\u201d he said of their shared approach. \u201cIt felt very free and raw.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aftab said Karpeh embodies her ideal player: someone who gravitates to the unique. \u201cI search for people like that because that\u2019s 80 percent of the thing,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing I can write down and ask you to play if you don\u2019t have that innate feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Tessa Thompson, who Aftab pinged with a friendly DM on Instagram, Aftab found both a natural collaborator and a role model for navigating the business on her own terms. (She had previously met some musical members of Thompson\u2019s family: her half sister, Zsela, and her father, Marc Anthony Thompson, a.k.a. Chocolate Genius.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been around that type of person who has been in the industry a long time and still manages their mental health and knows how to be chill and natural and not overwhelmed by stuff,\u201d Aftab said of Thompson. \u201cMaybe I\u2019m just a baby!\u201d<\/p>\n
ON A WARM<\/strong> April day, Aftab was ready to premiere the final cut of the \u201cRaat Ki Rani\u201d video. In her Brooklyn brownstone apartment, a cozy spot with a lush backyard garden, she made tea and explained the history of a rare instrument she found on eBay \u2014 the Sonica, a synthesizer in the shape of a guitar. Discussing her excitement about the video, she zoomed out to place its imagistic depiction of queer romance in a larger context. \u201cIt feels natural to me in this moment in culture for the center of desire to not be a man,\u201d she said firmly. \u201cWe are in a time that is fluid.\u201d<\/p>\n When the conversation turned to a recent Instagram post in which she announced the imminent retirement of \u201cMohabbat\u201d from her set lists, Aftab laughed. \u201cI was just [expletive] around,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously nobody\u2019s going to let me not play that anymore.\u201d Her tone quickly turned more serious. \u201cI\u2019ve never had a hit, so I don\u2019t know what to do. I guess Norah Jones still has to play \u2018Come Away With Me.\u2019\u201d Eventually, Aftab confirmed that she still connects with the song every time she sings it, but her impulse to move forward is no joke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n