Singer Arooj Aftab honoured with ‘Pride of Performance’ award

Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab was awarded the Pride of Performance award on August 14, in a ceremony in Washington, D.C, the singer announced on Instagram on Tuesday.

Announcing the honour in a post, she wrote, “Went to DC and picked up my Pride of Performance medal from the President of Pakistan via HS Mahmood Khan. I said it was a bright day for women in music and thanked all the elders and ancestors who have paved the way. Pakistani women lift up the whole place; we are the national treasure, the fabric, the legacy, the future.”

The Pride of Performance award is a civilian honour granted to celebrate notable achievements of citizens.

At a celebration to mark the 77th Independence Day of Pakistan, a ceremony was held in Washington for the distribution of 253 awards to Pakistani and foreign nationals for their contributions to their respective fields.

Aftab was conferred the award by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan.

“In recognition of her outstanding contribution in promoting Pakistani music tradition in the United States and across the globe, the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has conferred on Ms. Arooj Aftab the President’s Pride of performance award,” read the citation during the ceremony.

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In 2022, Aftab became the first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy award for Best Global Music Performance for her song ‘Mohabbat’.

She was nominated alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Wizkid and Burna Boy to take the coveted award home. She was also nominated in the Best New Artist category.

Prior to that, she also became the first Pakistani artist to be featured on a billboard in Times Square, New York as part of a Spotify campaign.

After spending time in Lahore, Aftab has lived in the United States for the last 16 years. She is currently based out of Brooklyn, New York.

Her music style is described as neo-Sufi, blending jazz, classical Sufi and Urdu lyrics. She released her first album independently in 2015 to critical acclaim.