In a triumph of cross-cultural experimentation, Pakistani singer-songwriter Ali Sethi and Chilean musician Nicolás Jaar join forces for a collaborative album, ‘Intiha’, out November 17th via Jaar’s Other People imprint.
Taking cues from Jaar’s freeform 2020 album ‘Telas‘, Sethi reimagines the ghazal – a lyrical poem traditionally invoking melancholy, rapture, longing, and metaphysical premises – through engineered rave revivalism.
‘Intiha’ illustrates what’s possible when you reconfigure centuries-old traditions into a porous and borderless present. “It felt familiar to me, that sense of adventure you have when you hear his music, like a tale that teases you and plays with your expectations as it unfolds,” says Sethi of Jaar’s work. “It resembled the leisurely improvised ghazals and qawwalis I grew up hearing in Pakistan.” Of ‘Intiha’, Jaar says: “it’s a sound that I hope can operate on multiple levels.”
Watch the visual for lead single ‘Muddat’, directed by Yuma Burgess…
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Photo Credit: Somnath Bhatt
