KIRAN AHLUWALIA’S AAM ZAMEEN : COMMON GROUND OUT OCTOBER 25 ON AVOKADO ARTISTS RECORDINGS

FEATURING COLLABORATIONS WITH
TINARIWEN & TERAKAFT

U.S. TOUR KICKS OFF NOVEMBER 9 IN NYC

“A rising international star.” —Village Voice

“A powerful woman who has a depth of character in her wonderfully pliable, expressive voice.” —The Observer

“The seemingly effortless melding of these two transcendent styles elevates both to a higher plane.” —Globe and Mail

Award-winning Indo-Canadian artist Kiran Ahluwalia’s fifth album, Aam Zameen : Common Ground, receives its U.S. release on October 25 on Avokado Artists Recordings. The product of a close collaboration with Tuareg band Tinariwen, the album’s influences span four continents and result in a sound that successfully merges contemporary Indian song with Saharan desert blues. Ahluwalia and her band will play Drom in New York City on November 9, followed by select U.S. cities (see below for dates). Additional dates will follow in the spring.

Produced by Justin Adams (Robert Plant, Tinariwen) and Rez Abbasi in France, the U.K. and Canada, Aam Zameen : Common Ground also features guitar work by both. Ahluwalia and Tinariwen are joined on the record by fellow Tuareg tribesmen Terakaft and Gambian ritti player Juldeh Camara, who lends his craft to several tracks. Members of Ahluwalia’s touring band round out the ensemble, and the whole is mastered by Peter Moore (Cowboy Junkies).

The album’s lead track “Mustt Mustt,” a cover of the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan classic, exemplifies the border-crossing nature of the album: a song from Pakistani Islamic tradition performed by Ahluwalia, her band and the Malian Muslims of Tinariwen. According to Ahluwalia it was not long before the musicians settled upon a firm musical common ground. “The hand claps of Tinariwen were different in style but similar to the concept of hand claps in qawwali,” she notes, “and the call and response between the main vocalist and the rest of the group was also something familiar to their own music.”

Born in India, raised in Canada and residing today in New York City, Ahluwalia’s international background is evident in her entire approach to music making. Previous recordings have found her fusing the sounds of her native India with those of Portugese fado, Celtic fiddle and Afghani rhubab, while in live performance she has collaborated with performers as diverse as the Chicago Sinfonietta, Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq and electronica artists Delerium and Eccodek. Hailed by the Toronto Sun as “a heady hypnotic mix of Indian rhythms and desert blues,” Aam Zameen : Common Ground continues the JUNO Award-winning artist’s quest to uncover musical links between diverse styles and genres.

For more information, please contact Chris Schimpf, Krista Williams or Carla Sacks at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000.

KIRAN AHLUWALIA U.S. TOUR

November 9 /// New York, NY /// Drom
November 11 /// Chicago, IL /// Mayne Stage
November 12 /// Austin, TX /// St. David’s Episcopal Church
November 13 /// Cedar Rapids, IA /// CSPS Hall
November 14 /// Los Angeles, CA /// The Mint
November 15 /// Santa Cruz, CA /// Don Quixote’s Internat’l Music Hall
November 16 /// San Francisco, CA /// Yoshi’s
November 18 /// Albuquerque, NM /// Nat’l Hispanic Cultural Center
November 20 /// Boston, MA /// Johnny D’s