Arooj Aftab & Metropole Orkest

The Grammy-winning composer, musician and singer has earned her position at the forefront of creative music through her individuality and embrace of risk. The Metropole Orchestra and Arooj Aftab already shared the stage briefly at North Sea Jazz 2023, where the singer's powerful and mesmerising sounds and the Metropole Orchestra's magisterial accompaniment complimented each other beautifully.

Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab's whimsical songs are unique, mystical and, above all, full of musical genius. Her singing moves across a wide field, from jazz, folk, alternative, pop, blues and South Asian classical music. Since her debut Bird Under Water (2015), Aftab's music connects the traditional with the contemporary - combining accordion, guitar, trumpets, sitar and bansuri with her unique crossover vocal style. In 2024, Arooj Aftab released her fourth solo album, Night Reign (Verve), which received universal acclaim and a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Jazz Album, while the song Raat Ki Rani competed in the Best Global Music Performance category. In recent times, she has performed at all major international festivals, including Primavera, Glastonbury, Coachella and Le Guess Who? She has also appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk, Later with Jools Holland, Brodie and Mahogany sessions, among others, and has been written about in The New York Times, The Guardian and Rolling Stone, among others.

The Metropole Orchestra

Het Metropole Orkest speelt orkestrale ‘music with a groove‘. Het orkest speelt pop, soul, jazz, dance, hip-hop, film en wereldmuziek en zet daarnaast steeds meer in op de verbinding van deze genres. Het orkest deelde het podium met grootheden als Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Pat Metheny, Brian Eno, Herbie Hancock en Bono. Het orkest speelt ook met hedendaagse talenten als Kovacs, Within Temptation, Snarky Puppy, Gregory Porter, Jacob Collier, Cory Wong en DOMi & JD BECK.