Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Music of Central Asia, the Aga Khan Music Initiative’s panoramic 10-volume audio-visual survey of contemporary tradition-based music from Central Eurasia, has added volumes 7, 8, and 9 to the series. The CD-DVD sets will be out March 30. For more information about the series and the 2010 performances, please see:

News Archives

Remix Asia: A Catalyst for New Music
28 October 2009 - What do nineteen musicians hailing from eight countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Eurasia have in common? That was the question that participants in Remix Asia strove to answer during an intensive, fortnight-long workshop and concert tour that ended in Aleppo, Syria on October 18.

Collaboration between the Kronos Quartet and the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia
24 March 2010 - The Aga Khan Music Initiative and the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet have inaugurated a pioneering musical collaboration that brings the quartet together with leading musicians from Azerbaijan and Afghanistan to compose, arrange, and perform new music rooted in Central Asian tradition.

Music of Central Asia Volumes 7-9: In the Media
04 March 2010 - Press coverage of the release of the Music of Central Asia CD/DVD series, an initiative of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in collaboration with Smithsonian Folkways.

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Music and musicians have historically played a vital role in the cultures of Central Eurasia and the Middle East. Music traditionally has served not only as entertainment, but as a way to reinforce social and moral values. Musicians have provided models of exemplary leadership, whether by bringing listeners closer to God, sustaining cultural memory through epic tales, or strengthening the bonds of community through festivity and celebration. The Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA) was created by His Highness the Aga Khan in 2000 to support the efforts of Central Asian musicians and communities to sustain, further develop and transmit these important musical traditions.

The Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA) is a programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC). The Trust promotes the cultural mission of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and focuses on the physical, social, cultural and economic revitalisation of communities in the Muslim world. The Trust’s programmes also include the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the on-line resource ArchNet, the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Museum Projects.