Catalogue  •  About Ishaaq

Ishaaq, AKA Isak Klasson, creates a musical fusion based on his origins: the Indian and the Western. He was raised in Sweden, but he is half-Indian, and holds dual Indian Swedish citizenship. His journey in music began back in the early 2000s, as the singer and songwriter in Speedmarket Avenue, releasing music on cult Spanish indie-pop label Elefant Records. In recent years, as a solo artist under the name Ishaaq, he has moved towards a more spiritual, raga-based style, influenced by his Indian heritage. His two solo albums to date, 2021’s Best of Klasson and 2023’s Andra, were both produced by Jari Haapalainen. The latter was believed to be the world’s first LP made of oil-free, compostable material.

Under the Ishaaq Aarkistra banner — he assembled an international hand-picked group of jazz and Hindustani-trained musicians to improvise on tabla, bansuri flute, synths, pedal steel and drums, letting the mood and the spirit guide them.

Ishaaq and Haapalainen then painstakingly chopped up and edited the live recordings to create new, deeply layered, textured and immersive compositions, full of pulsing grooves, hip-hop breakbeats, psychedelic soundscapes and positive energy. Arikomban Space marks a creative turning point: music made collectively, instinctively, and without borders. To make an album this way had been, says Ishaaq, “a dream of mine for a long time… since I learned that Can and Miles Davis and others made some of their strongest music this way”.