{"id":116925,"date":"2025-08-21T13:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T17:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=116925"},"modified":"2025-08-21T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:00:02","slug":"preview-small-world-music-presents-composer-performer-afraaz-mulji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/08\/21\/preview-small-world-music-presents-composer-performer-afraaz-mulji\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Small World Music Presents Composer\/Performer Afraaz Mulji"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Composer,
Composer, performer and philosopher Afraaz Mulji (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Composer, performer and philosopher Ostad Afraaz Mulji will perform in a concert presented by Toronto\u2019s Small World Music on August 23. It\u2019s an apt presenter for a composer\/musician who wants to unite people and create community through music.<\/p>\n

Originally from Tanzania, Afraaz is currently based in Toronto. He\u2019s been studying music since the age of three, and began performing around the same time. He plays piano, flute, tabla, and other instruments.<\/p>\n

His music explores a diverse array of traditions and genres, and as an artist, he wants to focus on global conversations and cultural exchanges.<\/p>\n

The Music<\/h3>\n

Afraaz says he draws inspiration from a diverse array of composers and thinkers who hail from across the globe, and who represent multiple classical traditions, including Bach, Islamic philosopher and music theorist al-Farabi (870-950), Scriabin, and Indian mathematician Ramanujan.<\/p>\n

His music is inseparable from his beliefs and what they stand for, including the Sufi concept of Fana, and Freedom from Form, an aspect of the Daoist philosophy.<\/p>\n

In the Sufi philosophy, Fana means, literally \u201cdying\u201d or even \u201cannihilation\u201d. In terms of the belief system, it\u2019s about submitting your human ego to God, whereby you become an active part of God\u2019s plan. Your individual self \u201cdies\u201d to become part of a union with God \u2014 essentially a denial of selfishness at its core.<\/p>\n

For followers of Daoism, the expression \u201cFreedom from Form\u201d means a way of moving beyond the confines of any form or structure, fixed identities and dualistic thinking. Letting go of the usual rules is the road to a spiritual liberation.<\/p>\n

Those are simplified explanations of concepts that are meant to be put into practice in everyday life, as well as in art. Afraaz describes this way of thinking as \u201cTransmigration of the Soul\u201d, a mode that takes its palette of creation from global traditions.<\/p>\n

He also incorporates his love of mathematics and how it relates to music. His approach to music and art is informed by science, including considering the nature of sound, and its power to aid in healing both body and mind.<\/p>\n

Multi-Instrumentalist & Composer<\/h3>\n

As a multi-instrumentalist as well as composer, he studied privately and in masterclasses with a variety of mentors, including American conductor, multi-instrumentalist and composer Maestro Alexander Frey, and Swedish concert organist, pedagogue, composer and visual artist Professor Hans-Ola Ericsson. Along with his studies in Western classical musical traditions, he counts as mentors the late Indian tabla player and composer Zakir Hussain and Malian kora virtuoso Ballak\u00e9 Sissoko.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am also deeply inspired by Yusuf Lateef, and Adam Rudolph,\u201d he says. \u201cI had the pleasure of working with the Go Organic Orchestra<\/a> at the Aga Khan Museum under the direction of Adam.\u201d That took place in 2024.<\/p>\n

This video includes a piano performance by Afraaz Adam Mulji at the Aga Khan Museum auditorium, Toronto. Mulji\u2019s original composition was inspired by a 16th-century Spanish antiphoner (a book of liturgical music) in the Hidden Stories exhibition, on loan from Western University, London, Ontario.<\/p>\n

This performance and conversation were part of the virtual symposium, Hidden Stories: Global History, Local Networks (February 24-25, 2022), which celebrated the exhibition Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads at the Aga Khan Museum.<\/p>\n