"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 will play a one-off London show at the Scala on June 1. Tickets are on sale now, priced at £14.00 plus fees.
Swet Shop Boys Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Thu June 01 2017 - LONDON Scala
Click here to compare & buy Swet Shop Boys Tickets at Stereoboard.com.
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