Qais Essar

Qais Essar
Qais Essar wearing an embroidered vest over a black long-sleeved top, looking directly at camera, with foliage in background
Essar in 2000
Background information
OccupationMusician
Instrument(s)Rabab, santur
Formerly ofQosmonauts

Qais Essar is an Afghan-American musician based in Phoenix, Arizona.[1] A rabab player and songwriter, he is most noted for the song "The Crown Sleeps", from the 2017 animated film The Breadwinner, which won the Best Original Song prize at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018.[2] He co-wrote the song with Joshua Hill, a bandmate in the now-defunct band Qosmonauts.[2] Essar often features instruments more familiar to Western music to complement the more traditional sound of the rabab and the santur in his compositions.[3]

Discography

  • The Green Language (2014)
  • Klasik (EP, 2015)
  • I Am Afghan, Afghani Is Currency (EP, 2015)
  • Tavern of Ruin (2016)
  • I Am Afghan, Afghani Is Currency Vol 2: Beltoon (EP, 2017)
  • Live from Toronto with Neelamjit Dhillon (2017)
  • Misc Vol 1 (2018)
  • The Ghost You Love Most (2018)[4]
  • I Am Afghan, Afghani Is Currency Vol 2: Zahir (EP, 2019)
  • Shakar Shack Vol. 1: Gulaab Jammin' (EP, 2020)
  • I Am Afghan, Afghani Is Currency Vol 4: Koh-I Baba (EP, 2024)
  • Echoes of the unseen (2024)

References

  1. ^ "Qais Essar Turns Ancient Afghan Music into a Time-Traveling Experiment of Sound". Phoenix New Times, January 11, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Maudie, Kim's Convenience, Ava, Alias Grace, and Rumble among major winners at Canadian Screen Awards". The Georgia Straight, March 11, 2018.
  3. ^ Wiser, Danny (May 10, 2022). "Afghanistan/USA: The Ghost You Love Most – Qais Essar". 200worldalbums.com. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  4. ^ "Apple Music: Qais Essar". Music.apple.com. October 12, 2019.


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