Aga Khan Music Programme

The mission of the Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP) is to foster the development of living musical heritage in societies across the world where Muslims have a significant presence, and disseminate this work internationally through collaborations with exceptionally creative musicians, artists, educators, and arts presenters.

AKMP was launched in Central Asia, with projects in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, and subsequently expanded to the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and West Africa.

AKMP comprises the former Aga Khan Music Initiative and the Secretariat of the Aga Khan Music Awards. We focus on innovative music and foster the creation of new music inspired but not constrained by tradition.

A newly created music publishing arm is managing intellectual property rights for recordings, publications, educational materials, music compositions, and films developed by or featuring educators and artists across AKMP’s areas of activity.

Performance Finder

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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

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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

Aga Khan Music Awards

The triennial Music Awards were established by His Highness the Aga Khan in 2018. They recognise exceptional creativity, promise, and enterprise in music performance, creation, education, preservation and revitalisation in societies across the world in which Muslims have a significant presence.

The inaugural Music Awards ceremony took place in Lisbon, Portugal from 29-31 March 2019, co-hosted by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Lisbon Municipality. Watch a short film about the creation of the Music Awards and the inaugural ceremony below. Learn more

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

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

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

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

Connect to the Aga Khan Music Programme

Connect to the AKMP