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A Chinese pipa virtuoso.

A Syrian saxophonist.

A Tajik dutar player.

What happens when musicians from Central Asia, China, the Middle East and North Africa converge on a Swiss recording studio? Will their divergent instruments and musical traditions clash or meld?

The debut album of the Aga Khan Master Musicians (AKMM), Nowruz, answers that question. Released by Smithsonian Folkways, it has topped the World Music Charts Europe just in time for its namesake, the Persian New Year.

Performing on saxophone, pipa, qanun, dutar, frame drum, viola d’amore and duclar – part clarinet, part duduk – AKMM creates a strikingly original body of work celebrating living musical traditions.

For the past 10 years, the Aga Khan Master Musicians have performed together in venues across the world, bringing audiences a new oeuvre overlaying centuries of musical heritage.

The group was formed from the network of composers, performers and teachers established by the Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP). Through creating new musical styles, teaching children, supporting educators, and attracting performers and producers, AKMP is revitalising Muslim musical heritage in Afghanistan, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan, ensuring the future of the musical past.

Celebrated across continents and millennia, this week’s vernal equinox bridges the past year and the coming one. Nowruz’s culture-spanning traditions inspire new musicians, echoing the season’s renewal.

Nowruz is available on all major streaming platforms, or as a CD.