On the 76th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, Arooj Aftab, a Grammy Award winner, was honoured in Washington on Monday with the “President’s Pride of Performance” award.
Aftab, the first Pakistani woman to ever win a Grammy award, was presented with the trophy by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan.
Aftab is a well-known performer, composer, and producer who is Pakistani-American and resides in the US.
She performs jazz fusion and neo-Sufi music. In 2022, she received the Grammy honour.
According to the citation read during the ceremony, Arooj Aftab received the President’s Pride of Performance Award “in recognition of her outstanding contribution to promoting Pakistani music tradition in the United States and around the world.”
Aftab has contributed to changing the perceptions of Pakistan, which Ambassador Masood praised as a major accomplishment, particularly in terms of using the power of music to bring the people of the two nations closer together.
Pakistanis are music lovers. There are no limitations on music, the envoy declared.
Aftab thanked the Pakistani government and the Ambassador for the award and said it was a fantastic time to recognise how important literature, poetry, and music have been to our identity as Pakistanis.
She claimed that Pakistanis have a strong sense of romance.
She described receiving the prize as a source of pride and encouragement for other female artists in the nation, adding that it was a good day for Pakistani female musicians to have done so.
Aftab also praised and honoured great female singers from Pakistan, like Mukhtar Begum and Abida Parveen, at the event.
She also expressed her gratitude to her parents for their ongoing support.
