Aga Khan Trust for Culture - Music Initiative in Central Asia: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival
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The Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture is the lead funder and creative partner of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and The Silk Road Project, Inc.The Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Aga Khan Music Initiative in
Central AsiaThe Aga Khan Trust for Culture is the lead funder and creative partner of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and The Silk Road Project, Inc. At the same time the Trust promotes Central Asian music in Europe and North America, it is also working through the auspices of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia for the preservation and promotion of traditional music at the heart of the Silk Road.

The long-term goals are to revitalise the study and performance of traditional music and to make local festivals artistically and financially self-sustaining.

 

News Archives

Music of Central Asia at the Louvre: Alim and Fargana Qasimov, Tengir-Too and The Academy of Maqam to Perform
31 March 2008 - Musicians from Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan supported by the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia will be performing at the Louvre Auditorium on the 5, 6 and 13th of April.

Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia: Nomads, Mystics and Troubadours
12 October 2007 - Seventeen musicians from Central Asia, a culturally dynamic and rapidly changing region, will share their mastery of traditions at once ancient and contemporary in an 11-city North American tour beginning on October 12th.

Inaugural Concert of Central Asian Music Delights Washington
15 March 2006 - Dignitaries from Washington’s political, diplomatic, legal and cultural fields today joined His Highness the Aga Khan at the inaugural concert of Via Kabul.

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Introduction to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
and the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia

The 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, to be held 26 - 30 June 2002 and July 3 - 7 2002 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C, USA, features 350 traditional artists - musicians, dancers, craftsmen, storytellers, artists, cooks, and more - from 20 nations including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United States and Uzbekistan.

Preserving and Promoting Traditional Music of the Silk RoadPreserving and Promoting Traditional Music of the Silk Road (Click on the image to download PDF).

For more information on the Aga Khan Trust for Culture's activities in Central Asian Music, please see the information backgrounder Preserving and Promoting Traditional Music of the Silk Road (PDF, 61KB, English) and the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia page.

The Silk Road Project

The Silk Road Project, an ongoing series of concerts and festivals. The Trust is the lead funding agency and creative partner of the Silk Road Project, which was founded by reknowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma to "study the ebb and flow of ideas among different cultures along the Silk Road" and "plant the seeds of new artistic and cultural growth...".

For more information on Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, Inc., please see the Silk Road Project website.

Also see the Calendar of concerts on the Silk Road Project website.

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