AKMP artists Mustafa Said, Peni Candra Rini, Soumik Datta, a trio of the Aga Khan Master Musicians and the five-piece Ustatshakirt Ensemble will play at the Edinburgh International Festival this August.

Edinburgh International Festival celebrates Aga Khan Music Programme artists

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Nowruz: A harmony of old and new

The AKMM debut album is a celebration of musical excellence and cultural heritage.

Aga Khan Master Musicians release debut album on Smithsonian Folkways label

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The 2022 Aga Khan Music Awards have concluded with the presentation of awards to 15 laureates by His Highness Sayyid Bilarab bin Haitham Al Said and Prince Amyn Aga Khan during a gala concert at Royal Opera House Muscat’s House of Musical Arts.| AKDN / Akbar Hakim

Fifteen laureates receive Aga Khan Music Awards at the 2022 ceremony

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Prince Amyn Aga Khan presents Lifetime Achievement Award to Zakir Hussain | AKDN / Akbar Hakim

Prince Amyn Aga Khan presents Lifetime Achievement Award to Zakir Hussain

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Aga Khan Music Programme

Music can be a strong cultural anchor, deepening a sense of community, identity and heritage, while simultaneously reaching out in powerful ways to people of different backgrounds. I know that in some parts of the world the words “Muslim” and “music” are not often linked together in the public mind. But they should be. The cultural heritage of Islam has long embraced musical language as an elemental expression of human spirituality.

His Highness the Aga Khan
Inaugural prize-giving ceremony of the Aga Khan Music Awards, March 2019

At a time when strengthening tolerance and pluralism has become an acute worldwide priority, music is one of the arts that offers a medium for reaching, involving and uniting global audiences by engendering emotions which we all share as human beings.

Prince Amyn Aga Khan
Inaugural event of the Aga Khan Music Awards, Lisbon, March 2019

Group photo of the 2022 laureates, with Prince Amyn Aga Khan and His Highness Sayyid Bilarab bin Haitham al Said.

The 2022 laureates with Prince Amyn Aga Khan and His Highness Sayyid Bilarab bin Haitham al Said.

AKDN / Rahim Kara

Aga Khan Music Awards

The Aga Khan Music Awards ceremony took place in Muscat, the Sultanate of Oman, on 29-30 October 2022. At the event, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Zakir Hussain, who then gave a special performance with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra and Aga Khan Master Musicians. The next day at Part 2 of the ceremony Prince Amyn Aga Khan and His Highness Sayyid Bilarab bin Haitham al Said presented the 2022 Laureates with their awards. The awards presentation marked the culmination of a spirited two-day celebration in which laureates performed live or were presented in short films.


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Education and Mentoring

Music education is central to AKMP’s efforts to support the revitalisation, further development, and transmission of Muslim musical heritage in contemporary artistic languages, inspired but not constrained by tradition. Learn more


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Creation and Performance

From young school children to aspiring young professionals, venerated master musicians, and laureates of the Aga Khan Music Awards; individual artists, ensembles, and arts communities in AKMP’s network are offered opportunities to create and perform music that embodies contemporary perspectives on musical heritage. The music of AKMP’s own performing ensemble, the Aga Khan Master Musicians, is inspired by their deep roots in the cultures of the Middle East and Mediterranean Basin, South Asia, Central Asia, and China. These artists also serve as preeminent teachers, mentors, and curators. Learn more


Production, Documentation and Dissemination

Production, Documentation and Dissemination

AKMP has inherited the Aga Khan Music Initiative’s distinguished portfolio of audio and video recordings, publications, films, and educational materials, representing two decades of work by a broad network of specialists. Supported by a new music publishing entity that manages the intellectual property rights of participating artists and educators, AKMP will continue to document, produce, and disseminate the work of outstanding musicians in its regions of activity. Learn more


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Online Projects and Digital Archive

From the time of its establishment in 2000, AKMP comprehensively documented its work through audio recording, film and video, photography, and print publications. Only a small percentage of this material has been published or made available online, while much of it remains unseen and unheard.


A significant online education project and digital archive currently under development will include a fully searchable subscription-based database consisting of AKMP-owned audio and video assets and a collection of instructional tutorials. Online tutorials will feature a wide array of instructors, instruments, and themes suited to students of different ages and backgrounds, all using innovative lesson-delivery technology that syncs audio, video and music notation into a single interface. Several educational institutions in North America, Europe and Central Asia will test this new educational collection. AKMP’s new music publishing entity will own the rights to the tutorials, allowing for an “open access” policy. Learn more


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