About
Our Mission Is to Build Bridges Through Culture
Vagabond Media is a New York–based disruptor bringing global pop music and art to the forefront. Through bold live events and transformative storytelling, we connect diasporic voices with the cultural mainstream. We don’t just produce events; we spark cultural wildfires.
Reclaiming New York’s Creative Edge
New York City once birthed icons like Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, and Martha Graham—a mecca for the bold and the visionary. The city also gave us radical voices like Patti Smith, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Robert Mapplethorpe. But over time, the city grew risk-averse. The playground for rebels became a guarded enclave, squeezing out the young and the daring.
Now, at a cultural turning point, we’re here to reignite that spirit and open New York City once again to the world. Vagabond Media rejects the sanitized status quo and embraces the groundbreaking, the edgy, and the experimental.
From Collision Comes New Culture
We believe the most powerful art today emerges from cultural collisions. For our debut, For the Love of God, we fused the wild soul of Qawwali with the power of Gospel, bringing Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawwal Brothers together with Damien Sneed’s Chorale Le Château. It was more than a performance; it was a cultural alchemy that transformed the audience and created something breathtakingly new.
What’s Next: A New Global Tapestry of Music, Film, Dance & Storytelling
We’re just getting started. Vagabond Media will continue to build bridges between the sounds and stories born out of Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and beyond. We’re crafting a new cultural map where New York is not the gatekeeper but the meeting ground for the world’s most daring artistic voices.
In a city ready to reclaim its cultural soul, we’re here to spark that transformation. The future is vibrant, and it’s just beginning.
Founders
Nusrat Durrani
Nusrat Durrani
Nusrat Durrani
Nusrat is a New York-based filmmaker, writer, and photographer, and the visionary founder of MTV World—the platform that brought global pop music and underrepresented voices to American audiences. Recognized by President Obama for amplifying Native American youth, Durrani crafts urgent, lyrical stories at the intersection of politics, mus
Nusrat is a New York-based filmmaker, writer, and photographer, and the visionary founder of MTV World—the platform that brought global pop music and underrepresented voices to American audiences. Recognized by President Obama for amplifying Native American youth, Durrani crafts urgent, lyrical stories at the intersection of politics, music, and identity. His acclaimed projects—including Rebel Music, Madly, and An American Prayer—unfold in a singular cinematic language. He also created The Music Experiment, a groundbreaking series of multimedia events reimagining the live music experience. His lens spans cultures and time, capturing punks in Istanbul, the raw intimacy of New York’s subways, and the haunting grace of the Namibian savannah. As MTV founder Tom Freston put it, Durrani is “a sage when it comes to music and pop culture.” Whether as a writer, filmmaker, or producer, he channels beauty, rebellion, and truth in all their aching, luminous forms.
Shazia Choudri
Nusrat Durrani
Nusrat Durrani
Shazia is a boundary-breaking entrepreneur with over two decades of experience building visionary platforms, leading creative teams, and connecting global audiences across borders, cultures, and traditions. As co-founder of Beyond Barzakh—a creative incubator and event platform developed with the iconic Barzakh Café—she spotlights urgent
Shazia is a boundary-breaking entrepreneur with over two decades of experience building visionary platforms, leading creative teams, and connecting global audiences across borders, cultures, and traditions. As co-founder of Beyond Barzakh—a creative incubator and event platform developed with the iconic Barzakh Café—she spotlights urgent voices at the intersection of music, identity, and community. Known to her fans as a “mistress of music” and “angel of culture,” Shazia brings a signature approach that fuses ritual, rebellion, and raw talent. She has produced genre-defying shows that resonate with culturally engaged audiences and feature artists from across the globe. Her work continues to shape the next wave of global sound—through bold voices, transformative spaces, and music from the margins.
Vagabond Events
surprise. delight. transform.
Vagabond Media is a culture disruptor born in New York. It brings together bold voices from every corner of the globe to create shows, films, and experiences that shift perspectives and blow minds.