London, UK, 24 November 2025 – The world’s music industry came together at the Southbank Centre on Saturday to celebrate the 11 groundbreaking winners of the 2025 Aga Khan Music Awards (AKMA).

The winners are from Morocco, Bahrain, Türkiye, Iran, Lebanon, India, Mali, Palestine, Greece, Pakistan and Senegal. They represent a wide range of musical heritages and their evolution, and have made exceptional contributions to the well-being of communities. In some cases, they are the last remaining master musicians of their traditions.

Ahead of the prize-giving ceremony, Prince Amyn Aga Khan conferred the AKMA distinguished Patron’s Award upon the Warsi Brothers and Naseeruddin Saami, two of South Asia’s most remarkable musical acts. Both trace their heritage to the esteemed 13th-century Sufi poet Amir Khusrau.

Other 2025 laureates are:

• Mali’s Mariam Bagayoko, nicknamed the “Nightingale of Bélédougou”. She plays the n’goussounbala, a large wooden percussion instrument, and teaches it to younger women and girls. She received this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award;
• Iranian-American composer Sahba Aminikia, who runs the Flying Carpet Festival, bringing music to children forced from their homes by war in southeastern Turkey;
• Palestinian oud player Kamilya Jubran, who has built a career pushing the boundaries of Arabic music through collaborations with European artists;
• Bahrain's Qalali Folk Band, who have performed together for over a century, and keep alive the traditional music of the country’s pearl-diving heritage;
• Greek musician Kyriakos Kalaitzidis, who shows how Islamic and European musical traditions connect;
• Morocco’s Hamid El Kasri, a Gnawa master who has performed with international jazz artists including Snarky Puppy;
• Turkey's Derya Türkan, who mixes Turkish classical music with jazz influences;
• Senegalese musician Senny Camara, one of only a few women playing the kora – a 21-stringed instrument usually played by men – who uses her music to speak about gender equality and environmental issues; and
• Lebanese artist Farah Kaddour, who performs on the buzuq, a long-necked lute, while working with communities displaced by conflict.

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“Music is one of the few spaces where difference does not divide us – it allows all of us to share emotion without translation. And that is what these Awards stand for,” said Prince Aly Muhammad in his keynote address. Read the address

The laureates, selected by an independent seven-member jury from a pool of over 400 nominees, share a prize fund of $500,000. The Awards ceremony headlined a four-day festival celebrating music from the Great East, marking the first time the Aga Khan Music Awards have taken place in the United Kingdom.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Orla Noble, Premier Comms – [email protected] / +44 7808 282795

Susie Gray, Premier Comms – [email protected] / +44 7834 073795

NOTES

Read more about the Aga Khan Music Awards, Aga Khan Music Programme and Aga Khan Development Network.